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apostate-in-an-alcove · 2 years

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The thing that bothers me about religion is that nobody seems to like know what they're doing. Like I asked my dad and I was like three, "hey what if somebody in say like Argentina never was exposed to the fact there there's God capital G. what if they never had the chance to be Christian, would they go to heck?" He was just kind of like I don't know, so I was assuming you just kind of got reincarnated until you had the choice. Like as a three-year-old I was just like, that's not right that they would just like suffer, I bet they get another chance. When I find out they didn't and that was kind of traumatic? You know? it's like, well then that's not fair like you don't really choose who your parents are, and who they worship so if you just born into the 'wrong' religion you just kind of suffer forever? So even if you're the best person on Earth, but you're not Christian, you're doomed for all eternity? ok then ig, said 6 year old me. Then I was like huh that makes no sense. if there was a God wouldn't he accept that people worship Him in different ways or something, or like what if this is all the same deity in like we all just see them in different ways, why would that be so bad? why was he so overly mad about the golden calf like okay buddy they think you're a golden cow, but you could just say hey I'm not a golden cow, its basically just calling somebody by a different name if you don't know their actual name. Anyways after that I got shipped off to kindergarten, and I had no friends. And somehow I made slightly friends with this girl, who is extremely Christian, extremely rich, really white. and she just made me joined her Christian Club at recess. I'm not joking, like first grade and this Christian child wants to convert people on the playground. So me being really dumb, I said Hey what if it's all like the same religion but we just like worship God in different ways oh, and why is he so mad about it? And she's just like it's not, and they're not going to heaven, cuz that's the way it is. Like that's why I'm not Christian. Cuz we are like in freaking first grade. And she deadass said that to me as a 7 year old 😭 ( I'd probably feel kind of bad for her, but she did bully me so much I still have issues, so frick her)

I remember being taught (according to Catholicism) that people who had no chance to learn the Gospel would not have their ignorance held against them and that god wouldn't damn someone due to ignorance. That's a more little generous of a view but even then their god is still damning people for not being convinced of his existence.

The existence of eternal punishment is nonsensical and most certainly is not a merciful and loving thing. Even if someone did deserve to be damned, there's no way that any crime would be worthy of infinite torture or separation from god because eventually the punishment would just become excessive. Hearing Christians trying to justify Hell always feels like I'm watching a battered person defend their abusive partner, relative, friend etc. They just end up sounding so deranged to me.

Funnily enough, there's some Christians who do believe that other religions are actually the Christian god manifesting himself to other cultures in a way that they would understand. That take is problematic and heretical to Christian theology and certainly doesn't take other religious theologies into account. But I think an attitude like that comes out of the refusal to accept Hell and the acknowledgement that it's inhumane and abnormally cruel and anyone who genuinely defends it and believes it's justified is fucked up in the head.

Christians can hardly ever agree amongst themselves about the most basic doctrines of their religion and I see similar kind of squabbling among other religious groups. It's one of the reasons why I dismiss Christians when they try to threaten me with Hell and lecture me. These people are constantly disagreeing with each other and moving the goal posts and changing their ideas and beliefs to cater to what they want. So it's funny when they whine and cry about other people not following and believing their mythology when they can barely agree on one thing as a group.

That's so awful that a child was already trying to convert people though. A little kid shouldn't be worried about soul saving but here we are anyway. I'm sorry to hear that she bullied you, it's a terrible thing to deal with.

#anon reply #anon ask #ex christian

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ceterisparibus116 · 3 years

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Lawyer!Matt and Catholicism

Okay. So. Disclaimer: I am not Catholic. I have, however, read the Catechism multiple times, attended Catholic services and lessons, and interrogated a small handful of priests (who, for the record, were very gracious).

Long essay under the cut!

One of the biggest areas of Daredevil where I have to suspend my disbelief is how a lawyer like Matt could be, of all the faiths out there, Catholic. Obviously, there’s the a e s t h e t i c. Plus the history of the comics. But if I were writing Daredevil from scratch, I, personally, would not choose Catholicism as Matt’s religion, and here is why.

My understanding of Catholicism is that it requires submission to the Catholic Church’s interpretation of Scripture (source: Catechism, Part 1, Section 1, Chapter 2, Article 3) (and also suggests, practically if not doctrinally, that questioning God = sin). Maybe I’m projecting as a Christian law student, but I simply cannot understand Matt switching off the lawyer part of his brain when it comes to his faith. (I mean, the issue of interpretation alone is huge, since interpretation of texts in contract law (as every 1L knows) involves a very precise methodology that I think Matt would eagerly apply to interpretation of Scripture, regardless of whether he reaches a conclusion the Catholic Church would approve of.)

Now, I could kinda understand Matt being Catholic if the show downplayed some parts of his personality. For instance, not every lawyer is ruthlessly analytical, argumentative, etc. But instead, the show goes out of its way to demonstrate that Matt embodies those traits. Even before going to law school where those traits would be intentionally cultivated, he was already analytical, skeptical, questioning, argumentative, and unafraid to challenge religious authority - as we see in the conversation between young!Matt and Father Lantom where Matt is indignant that one his teachers can’t defend certain doctrines.

I could also kinda understand Matt being Catholic if the show presented Matt’s faith as a crutch for him, as some people view religion. As in, if Matt needed his faith so much that he was afraid to question it for fear of losing it. I could understand it if we were meant to see a disconnect between Matt’s rational side as a lawyer and blind faith in his religion. But the show doesn’t present Matt’s relationship to Catholicism that way. Matt absolutely questions and challenges his faith and his priest and even God, both as a kid and as an adult. (And, as far as I can tell, that’s meant to be seen as a strength of his, not a weakness.)

So...why is it that his character arc in S3 as relates to his faith seems to culminate in him...laying all his doubts aside because of an analogy? Which, regardless of the poignancy of the analogy, just didn’t really fit his character to me. After all, his doubts were based on emotion (and depression), yes, but also on logic (a reasoned if arguably incorrect interpretation of the book of Job), so wouldn’t the restoration of his faith be more poetic if it were also based on logic?

To be fair, the show also goes out of its way to present Father Lantom as rational (while also suggesting multiple times that Father Lantom is unusually rational for a priest). I can only assume this is because they don’t want anyone, especially in modern US culture where people generally dismiss reasoned faith as oxymoronic, to consider Matt’s faith silly? And I respect that. But I wish they’d dug deeper into the practical ways that Matt, a very independent and intelligent guy who is literally trained to analyze everything from multiple angles and poke holes in arguments, can be a person of faith, particularly of a faith like Catholicism, where adherence to the Church’s viewpoints is of paramount importance, at least according to the Catechism if not according to every individual priest.

But alas.

In the meantime, I guess I’ll stick to projecting my law-and-religion theories and personal issues onto Matt via fanfiction. 🙃😂

And with all that, I’ll shut up.

#matt murdock #father lantom #daredevil #meta #religion #depression

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phemonoi · 4 years

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Philosophy | What are the Gods?

“What are the Gods?” is a question that, perhaps, has haunted most of us at least sometime. But it haunted the ancients too, and to answer this questions many different people proposed many different and often contradictory ideas. The doctrines that taught the different definitions of a what a God is, begun being called “schools” in ancient Greece. Here, I will try to teach a bit of what the Platonic school taught about Gods, in a very, very, simplifying way.

☀️ Foreword

Why Platonism, you ask? Simple: Plato was, perhaps undoubtedly, the most popular philosopher back then. His ideas reached many, and they became not just polemic, but very important. In Late Antiquity the most prominent school in philosophy *and* theology were the platonic pagans, who had many encounters against monotheistic christians; although we have to be grateful that some of their ideas weren't so contradictory or irreconcilable, because if that were the case, perhaps the doctrine of Plato and his Neoplatonists wouldn't have survive pagan persecution and erasure.

Even if Plato was a polytheist, because of the nature of Socrates’ approach and abstract ideas, recognizing a clear influence of ‘polytheism’ requires observation and objectivity. In medieval times, christian theologists and philosophers learned a lot from both Plato and Neoplatonists, and tried to reconcile their teachings with the newer monotheistic religiosity, sometimes misinterpreting or implying a type of ‘monotheism’ in Plato's words.

Sadly, this tradition hasn't been very disproved in contemporary scholar sources. Many philosophers and scholars still believe that Socrates (and even his ancestors) arrived to the idea of monotheism before the rest of their contemporary “vulgar” and “uncultured” people. Sadly, in philosophical circles today, the belief in many gods is seen as superstitious and not deserving of consideration. Yes, philosophy today is full of arrogance.

However! Some philosophers and scholars survive that defend a polytheistic reading of Plato's doctrine. Some of them are: Thomas Taylor, Richard Bodeus, Patrick Dunn, Peter Kingsley, Algis Uzdavinys, etc. In the eighteenth century paganism started to resurface again, and that’s where we get Thomas Taylor from, who was openly pagan. Even Goethe holded eclectic ideas and wrote many letters stating his devotion to many other gods beside the christian one! So if you ever read Plato through polytheist lens, you'll find him easier to understand with the help of those scholars.

☀️ Introduction

So, okay, let's get right to it: according to Plato, what are Gods?

Well, in short: they are not.

This is hard to think, but let's try to understand it. For Plato, Gods do not posses “Being”, because they precede it. They come before everything else can “Be”. Gods do being, and assign being to everything that comes after them, but they themselves are not bound to “be”. This is a simple procession of logic: first come Gods, then comes Being. They make being, but being does not make them.

The Neoplatonists use the term “hyparxis” to define the state in which Gods exist. And it simply means existence.

But let's change the question a bit: What is the ground of Being? What can we say is real?

For Plato, what is truly real are the Ideas of things, and not things themselves. This can be reduced to a simple dichotomy: is matter real? or is spirit real? To answer this questions many schools emerged. Defending the ultimate reality of matter against the spirit were the stoics and the epicureans, along with other schools like the cynic. Defending spirit's ultimate reality against matter were the “mystery” schools like the mysteries of Orpheus, Dionysos, and Isis; the Pythagoreans, and ultimately, the Platonists.

So understanding this better, we could say that Plato stated the soul was more “real” than matter (not to say matter is not real enough). This soul lets call an “Idea”. Ideas are what things reflect; like light casted upon a stone. The stone becomes known to us through that light, since is not dark anymore and we can see it. Plato's Ideas can be understood like that.

Now, notice that I'm capitalizing Ideas. “Ideas” with a capital ‘I’ are not things that are bound to someone's head. They are part of a greater, much more powerful consciousness, that of the Universe. Saying that Ideas are more real than things, is not saying that only what I think is real. This would be absurd; it is not the ideas I think, but those of a much greater consciousness that gives the cosmos its shape.

If you've heard about panpsychism, it will be easier for you to understand what Plato and the Neoplatonist were pointing at. This much bigger consciousness whose ideas reflect matter and give shape to the universe, was call the Nous.

☀️ The Divine Ideas

This is much more complex, but basically you can experience the truth of Ideas by thinking about things and asking yourself why is it that you can think about something that is not available to you at the moment. Let's define, then, what the Ideas are.

Matter: What is matter? Matter is something bound to space and time in order to exist. For example, for you to exist, you must have a body (space) and be somewhere, at a given age (time). Our bodies are bound to space-time in the sense that they move, and they decay. And so is every other thing made of matter: it is dependent on change. So what is matter? that which changes, and is depende on space-time.

However, the Ideas we have of things are not dependent on space or time. You can, for example, think of the color “red” without it being impressed on a thing. But the color “red” cannot exist in matter without it being on something. For example, you can have a red shirt; but you cannot only have red. It must be reflected on something. However, you can think of the color red alone.

What does this mean? It means your thoughts are not material: they are not extended in space. So what are Ideas? That which does not depend on space or time to exist.

This is gonna sound more complicated, but I'll take an example from Einstein's space-time equation that is described in Patrick Dunn's book on Theurgy (I'll be quoting this dude quite a lot, by the way, because I find him very easy to understand).

The equation Einstein used to describe the equivalence of mass and energy is E = mc², right? Yet, ironically enough, this equation is not on space-time. How?? Well, you can write it on a board with a marker. But that's not the equation itself, just a representation of it. The equation is the nonmaterial reality those letters on top of the board describe. The equation is presented to our minds through symbols; but yet, symbols are not the equation. Doesn't matter where you write it. The equation is still an Idea, a reality that exist outside of what it describes. How do we know? Because even if Einstein hadn't figure out this equation, the reality it describes would still be true. The equivalence of mass and energy does not depend on our knowledge of it, it thus exist outside of space and time, since it is true everywhere, whenever.

Going back to the color “red”. The fact that we can know it is true because there is light that reflects that color in particular wavelengths that we can call “red”. So the Idea of “red” is also outside of time and space, because those wavelengths would still reflect that color value even if we are not there to see it or name it. Even if no human existed, those wavelengths would still behave according to the laws that give rise to our perception of “color”.

So what is matter? Taking Dunn's definition: matter is that which brings to us the Ideas that describe our knowledge. Matter brings eternal and immaterial ideas down to the realm of space-time. Thus, matter is real, but not as real as those Ideas, since it is only an echo of their existence.

☀️ Trascendent and Immanent Gods

So now that we have answered Plato's question of what is the ground of Being (Ideas = Spirit), we have to answer the question of where does ideas come from. Of course, they come from a grater mind (or minds), but —What are these minds? Are they inside of the universe (immanent) or outside of it (trascendent)?

Lets see: don't we call the Gods “immortal”? What does this mean? It means they can't die. If they can't die, then, they are not subject to matter, which in itself means, they're outside time and space. Nothing in the world of matter is undying: everything decays, everything is “corruptible” as Plato put it; not in the sense that it is evil, but in the sense that it fades, it dies. Dying is not an evil thing, it's a natural thing.

So if the Gods are undying, and thus nonmaterial, are they Ideas? I'd say that's short for them. They are not ideas in the everyday sense of “Oh! I got an idea!” but Ideas in the sense of being eternal, not subject to space-time, far greater than matter. They are part of what gives the universe its shape, to simplify it.

So if they're undying, can they change? Can Ideas change, even if they are eternal and immaterial? No, this means they can't. Since they are immaterial they are not extended in space. Change requires time, and they exist outside of time. So, no, they can't change.

But if they can't change, why bother praying, am I right? Some schools in ancient Greece stated that because the Gods are immortal and live outside space-time, they can't care about us. The Epicureans, for instance, thought of this. But Plato is not one of them; and Neoplatonists were very religious folks. In fact, they even created a whole method of praying called Theurgy. Why would Plato concern himself in prayer if the Gods can't change, thus can't be affected by our concerns? Let's see.

Borrowing another example from Dunn, let's consider the sun. When the sun is shining outside, we say it is brighter. When the sun can be seen in the morning, we say it has risen. But what happens really? In the first example, there's just no clouds covering the sun; the sun itself does not become any darker or brighter. In the latter example, the earth has rotated to face the sun; the sun does not rise or sets, that's just how we percieve so from the Earth's position. So when we say a God favors us, for instance, Helios, then what really is happening is that we have changed. It means you have turned towards Helios, as the earth turns towards the sun, and you have put your mind in harmony with the cosmic Idea of him, becoming aware of his existence.

But this is not enough. This awareness of the Gods is not enough to explain all our experiences with them, or the gifts they have given us, like magic and prophesy. There needs to be contact with them. And there is: the Gods are not so immaterial after all. How could this be? For instance, how would it be that we, material beings, can think of immaterial things? Easy! Because a part of us extends beyond space and time: our souls. Thus, it is logical to think that a part of the Gods is extended into space-time, even if immaterial, at least enough to influence and interact with it. Perhaps not in the same extent as ours, but that part exists.

So the Gods have bodies like us? I'm quoting Dunn: “What is the Sun, if not the body of Helios? But of course, Helios has a lot of bodies. He's in the sun, in gold, in lions, in all sorts of things.”

How the Gods can be perfect and unchangeable, yet affected by our prayers and the events of the material world, had struggled many philosophers in antiquity. In the end, praying for good to Gods that can't be affected by us sounds incompetent. Sallustius tried to think of it by writing “to say Gods turn away from evil is like saying the sun hides himself from the blind”. For Sallustius, we do not make the Gods notice us by praying and praising them but by acting in ways that are reflective of their goodness, thus by turning ourselves towards them. The Gods don't change because they don't need to: we change, because we need to. And by changing and turning towards them, we heal, and we please them. Think of it this way: by praying to Aphrodite for a lover you might get one, but by acting according to Her and becoming more aware of Her and her beauty, you become a person who is loved.

But still, this is not enough. How can the Gods help us change and heal when they are outside the world? When they are trascendent? We can say this: because we have an eternal (soul) and a temporal part (body), so do the Gods. The Gods are both in the world (immanent) and outside the world (trascendent). They “have” daimones, spirits, who act upon the world, and are both Them and theirs.

This means the Gods are an underlying reality beneath any phenomenon, what the romans called “numen”, and what we know today to be animas; if you're an animistic person, you can be familiarised with this idea. But they are not just simple Laws that hold the universe's order, they are consciousness. We can't taste, hear, see or smell the Gods, but we can feel the awe of the Gods in the presence of nature. The Gods can be said to animate matter: they are the souls of matter.

In his book, Dunn uses Apollo as an example. The Apollo of the world of Ideas can be said to hold inside his consciousness all the laws of harmony, the behavior of light, beauty, standards of truth, laws of sound, and music, medicine; all things associated with him. He is both, the law that holds the universe and consciousness that thinks of it. This is to say that the Gods are not just mechanic algorithms or equations, but that they think and are conscious of what happens in the Universe in consequences to their thoughts (that are not locked in space and time as our minds are).

When the Gods of the Ideas interact with matter, they are the deities that ensoul the material world. They are the daimones we know; like Harmonia, who is both a Goddess and a part of Aphrodite. These are more personal Gods with names and images, more present in the world of the psyche, and these are the beings we interact with: many of them, of course, go by the name of Aphrodite of Apollo themselves, because they are a clear reflection of the Gods that give rise to the world of Ideas but are more abstract and distant.

Finally, in the world of matter, the Gods are manifest by shaping things. A beautiful melody, or a beam of light, can be said to embody Apollo.

While there are trascendent gods who exist outside the world of time and space, there are also gods —the “same” gods— that reach into our world of matter. Just like us, they have an eternal part and a physical part. To say that the daimones are mortal is to say that they, like the universe, change: when the universe suffers heat-death, they will fade away, but the eternal gods will remain, because in their perspective, the universe has suffered, will suffer, is suffering its end, and its beginning.

Patrick Dunn, The Practical Art of Divine Magic: Contemporary & Ancient Techniques of Theurgy.

☀️ The Demiurge and Our Knowledge of The Gods

Now that we have defined what are Ideas, and what is matter, and what are Gods, we need to defined the type of Gods there are.

As we said earlier, the world of Ideas is known by platonists as Nous. As we have stated, Gods act upon Ideas, but they are not Ideas themselves. For Ideas to exist, someone has to think them. Thus, the Gods are prior to the Nous; but the Nous is a part of Them. Where the Gods could be say to “reside” (although they can't reside in any space because they are not subject to matter) is called the “supra-essential” domain in neoplatonism. In greek, it is read hyperousious. Hard to read for a non-greek, but think of it: hyper means “beyond” or “avobe” and ousious comes from ousia (a word very much used by Aristotle) which can be roughly translated as “essence” or “substance”. This word means, then, beyond-being.

We had asserted st the beginning that Gods are not Beings. Why? Because the things that give Beings their status of being are Ideas themselves. If Gods are then prior to Ideas, then they are prior to being. As said before, Gods make being, but being does not make them.

There are many types of Gods, but let's just analyse those present in Proclus' (a very important successor of Plato) body of doctrine. There are Demiurgic Gods: these are the Gods that give rise to Ideas. The Demiurge is an unspecified God present in Plato's dialogues. Plato didn't name him, which for many christians meant he was pointing to a unique and singular deity; but the truth is that Plato didn't name that God because, really, the Demiurge could be any God. Some later philosophers associated this God with Zeus. I personally associated him with Hephaistos, because he is a creator god, but Proclus thought the Demiurge is actually a very extent class of Gods. Think of it as an office with many Gods working there. Lol, could you imagine?

The Ideas in the Nous are emanations of the Demiurgic Gods. The Gods the live in the hyperousious dimension, the supra-essential realm, are called Henads. Henads means “singularities”, “units”, thus pointing at each God's own oneness.

How do Ideas emanate from them? Plato puts this beautifully in the Timaeus. He presents two types of Gods: a Demiurge, and a Paradigm. The Demiurge, by contemplating the Paradigm, gives order to the motion of the cosmos and creates Ideas. We could say then, that Ideas emanate from the Gods as a consequence of their socialisation in the supra-essential domain.

So the God, by contemplating another God, or even contemplating himself, gives rise to the Ideas, and the universe! We know the Gods because of this; we become aware of their existence through their actions, their socialisation in the supra-essential domain that gives rise to Being.

☀️ Conclusion

This topic is too complex, varied, and deep to be summed up on a Tumblr post. However, I have done my best to introduce at least a bit of the basics. We can conclude the following:

1. The Gods live in the supra-essential domain called hyperousious, which transcends space-time and Being.

2. The Ideas are emanations of the Gods in the domain of the Nous, which also transcends space-time but are the underlying fountations of Being.

3. The Gods have further emanations of themselves that interact with the domains of matter, which are changeable and extended through space-time, and they are called Daimones.

4. These Daimones are manifested in ideal, psychic, and material dimensions. The Ideal dimension is the shape they have, the psychic dimension is their presence through knowledge, and their material dimension is their presence in nature.

5. Our souls are also extended outside of space-time, like the Gods, making us divine beings as well.

6. It is us who change and become aware of the Gods, moving towards them. The daimonic Gods are the ones interacting with and affecting us and the world for good.

☀️ References

Patrick Dunn, The Practical Art of Divine Magic: Contemporary & Ancient Techniques of Theurgy.

Edward P. Butler, The Gods and Being in Proclus. (I know this author has been problematic in the past, but he’s the only neoplatonic pagan I know that has written extensively about the topic of polytheism in Plato and I can’t give myself the priviledge of not taking that knowledge. There’s not enough sources available to us —this does not mean I support him or his problematic statements at all)

Plotinus, The Enneads

Proclus, The Elements of Theology

Plato, Timaeus

Plato, The Republic

Plato, Phaedrus

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flashfuture · 3 years

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Follow up questions because I’m a Nerd and I love learning: is there any evidence to suggest frequent inclusion of women in Scandinavian warfare? Or is finding something like women’s armor rare? Was there a standard definition of any queer terminology in any ancient civilization? Did any Norse culture ever find its way to the Middle East???

I feel a bit like an over eager student writing this but uh...I’m very curious. 👀👀

When talking about women in Scandinavia you run into people describing how it appeared these women would take on the role of men in the absence of men. But I think there is an issue in that we’re assuming the role of women in these societies would match the role of an Ancient Greek woman (which is a whole other thing but I digress)

They’ve found that some of the founding fathers of Iceland were women, thirteen of them to be exact. women could inherit land and money from their parents. Women could be involved in legal matters and hold official positions.

There is lots of evidence that women were very frequently going raiding. They have been debating recently I believe if the term dregnr a young warrior really was only applied to men. Young women were described in the same vulgar terms as dominators and something we discuss in ancient Rome was the ideal of male “hardness” basically just being the top dog in the room. Women were the same in Ancient cultures if not expected to hold themselves differently but Skalds (the poets) describe the women just like the men.

Another thing quite recently (1993 so really recent in terms of historical archives) is the idea of the surrogate son. Basically, if a man died with no son to inherit a surrogate son would be chosen over a daughter. It has recently been noted that they very well could have been describing the daughter as a surrogate son. Someone to take up that male role of head of the household. This suggests in the sagas we have noted women but there is also a possibility for women to be described with male traditional words because of the role they were playing.

And we have found tons of armor that looks ceremonially and some battle worn for women yep. All women could fight though it was excepted they could defend themselves and their home front. Against potential attackers and wild animals.

Plus in the 13th century, the Christians introduced the Law of Gulathing which were sets of rules for people to follow. Women were then banned from cutting their hair like men, dressing like men, or in general behaving like men. This suggests It was common enough for them to throw it in the laws that banned traditional things that Scandinavians did that did not fit the Christian narrative or way of life.

-- This is gonna go under the cut for the rest cause wow I got long lol.

Okay queer terminology. You’ll see lesbian which was women who fucks women. and you’ll see penetrator a lot. These were slave cultures also so the idea of sleeping with another citizen was defiling them you shouldn’t do it.

In Ancient Athens, you saw men preferred the company of men over women because they didn’t think women were of value they were only good for producing heirs. There was a thing called pederasty where a wealthy man in his 20s, the erastes, would court a young wealthy man from the ages of 13-19, the eromenos, and teach him and keep him as a lover. Their debate over Achillies and Patroclus for example wasn’t if they were sleeping together but who was fucking who really. Because Patroclus was older but Achillies was the hero so was he being emasculated or were they breaking the age rule? That was their debate cause these things mattered to them

They were kinda the exception to the citizenship rule. The Spartans felt the pederastry was weird because it involved citizens but they were all in with the homo. Obviously, this was all very public and you’d be scorned if they thought you were being penetrated.

All in all, being penetrated was something women and slaves did and the last thing you wanted to be was a woman.

Another thing to consider was these cultures had a lot of problems with excess. So too much sex or food and in Rome you were a uh Cnidus? Idk I can only spell it in Greek which is staggeringly unhelpful but basically, you can’t control your urges. Based off that time someone tried to fuck a statue I think or something like that

The Norse had a similar word ergi which meant you had too much heterosexual sex actually, you were too promiscuous. In the 12th century we know in Iceland homosexual acts like sodomy were banned under Christian canon (Thanks Richard I of England) so there is that. Pre-Christian influence there seemed to be no stigma around this minus don’t force yourself on your friends that’s rude but slaves were fair game. (I wrote a paper on the weird stereotypes of Vikings being the sexual aggressors when the literature of the time suggests the Lotharingians were way way more likely to commit those acts. At least according to French who were besieged constantly by everyone all the time.)

níð was an insult for the ancient norse which basically you had displayed unmanliness. Or you liked to take it up the ass to be plain about it. (Ancient people were vulgar as shit the Romans were obsessed with sexual threats to the point where its just in common day-to-day speech.) Ragr was a term that meant you were unmanly which is much more severe and you could like legally kill someone for saying that up till the 13th century.

There is actually some debate that the concept of unmanly comes from making fun of the Germans. So like if you were Ancient Germanic or Ancient Brittania you were the savages of the day. Which is interesting when you consider the rhetoric those two countries put out. Like literally no one like the Germans or the Brits they thought they were filthy uncivilized and cowardly people.

Also fun from the 7th to 10th century in Norse culture there were these figurines called gold foil couples. In it a couple would be portrayed which was a way of proclaiming themselves married before the gods. It was a very religious practice for them. There are figurines depicting people of the same sex in the gold foil figurines.

Basically, we can thank Christianity for why we think the Vikings didn’t do homosexuality or homosexual acts. Because well they didn’t want them to starting in the 12th century again thanks Richard for having the worst break up with your boyfriend in the history of break ups.

And onto gender which if you know Loki from Marvel him being genderfluid is based entirely on mythology and is common in Norse writings. Okay so essentially we think of seiðr or magic as something women do. And they did too. But men did practice it. This was seen as a third gender in Norse culture, the seiðmaðr a man who practices magic. Hence Loki moving between the three as he’s a known magic-user. There was also this concept of gender mixing, biological men buried in traditionally female clothing. But there is no way for us to know if that is this third gender or potentially they were more excepting of what we would call transgender.

Because most of the writings we have come from the 13th century where Christianity really took over and just started making shit up. Like we have evidence they were trying to cover up things about Norse culture they didn’t like. So men who practiced seiðr were actually ergi and not a different gender, just an unmanly male.

So yeah lol these were acts they did so verbs can be found really easily. But we have mostly Icelandic stuff cause Christians they did fucked up shit

And the Vikings in the Middle East. They went all over. We have this assumption they were raiding whenever they went. Actually, the thing is they only raided northern Europe because they rightfully assumed those guys couldn’t fight back.

But they had trading agreements easily with the Greeks, Persians, and Abbassids mostly. There is a woman from Sweden who was buried with a ring that was inscribed with “For/To Allah”

The Arabs had the term Rusiyyah to describe the Vikings because they came so often. They noted that the Rusiyyah were not good at practicing hygiene but also describe their bodies as being “in perfect form” They liked a good ripped viking and I can appreciate that. They were like “they’re filthy but damn are those rusiyyah built”

Baghdad had the first real market place and they had paper from China so they were printing stuff into books which the Vikings found very interesting. There was so much international trade but the British and Germans who we mostly hear from now were so technologically unadvanced there was no way they could have participated with these other older cultures.

There is money found sometimes that was certainly viking in nature. They didn’t really have money like the Arabs at the time preferring to trade in goods. So they offered furs and silks along with weapons and slaves.

And it is possible that there was culture exchange as all cultures were being exchanged back then. We know some vikings converted to Islam as Arab writers commented that they missed pork dearly but were committed to the Path of Islam.

The Slavs or Rus (Russians) of the time were also annoyed with these viking raiders because their shit would get stolen and then sold to Arabia where they’d have to buy it back usually.

So yeah lots of trading going on. And many Vikings like I mentioned worked as bodyguards or mercenaries. We don’t know much of what the Vikings thought except that the writers in Arab noted they were very polite to their hosts if not aggressive with each other in a playful manner.

Lol you really let my nerd pop off here. I’d have to do more research into the Norse effect on the Middle East though cause I only know about the other way around off the top of my head here.

#ask #history #me and my nerd brain

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arohlanceur · 3 years

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A Gentle Wind

2020 has been the most tumultuous & spiritually-testing season I've yet endured. God has used this year to teach me about the depth of value in laboring fruits of patience, faith, and perspective. As Christians, a prolonged season of singleness can often feel draining. Sometimes it feels eternal, mentally writhing, hopeless, depleting, and absurdly confusing. It can be seemingly agitating and infuriating to feel we’re not *doing* enough to progress unto the next season or to furthermore *prove* our “enjoyment” during this lonesome season. Due to the sake of our vulnerability, the devil thrives and capitalizes on this time for his enjoyment in our turmoil. That said, our dependency on God may drastically drop frequently due to mere mortal exhaustion. And that’s okay. We’re human, with a genuine and diehard desire for companionship, for marriage, for building a life that will honor and glorify our Lord. Often times we may even feel our own Purpose is tied into this vision for marital unity. That said, waiting on His Timing can seem near impossible. We question “how much longer? How many more lonesome birthdays, life celebrations, holidays, without the one I’m meant to love? How many? How much longer?” Abraham said the same thing after God delivered His Promise. "The LORD said to Abram: Go forth* from your land, your relatives, and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. 2* I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3c I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” (n Genesis 12:1-3). Abraham was 75 years old when he received this vision. He waited 25 years for the deliverance of God’s breakthrough. That’s just one of numerous Biblical examples to demonstrate the labored fruit of patience (and irritability) of waiting on God’s Timing.

Additionally, as single Christians it can be highly agitating to hear Godly couples continue to claim “all in God’s Timing!” without further testifying to their journey of faith. I know each life path is individualized according to our call for His Purpose, but I can promise you, their path of faith wasn't easy either. The devil fights tooth and nail for anything remotely threatening to him, and spiritual alignment of God’s Ordained is the top of his hit-list. That said, have ease on yourself. Take care of yourself first. It’s taken me quite a long journey to realize the value and directed steps into a path of pursuing self-love. Furthermore, it’s taken that much deeper of a dive to fully embrace the Reckless Love that God had in the intricate fabrication of my own character. Every flaw, every mistake, every minuscule detail of my personality was intricately woven through the mind, spirit, and experiences of growth that God used to cultivate my enrichment. I am, at most, His Kingdom Child and there is no greater honor to ever come above, near, or beyond that.

To pursue a path of self-love is to fully learn, embrace, and intimately meet the masterpiece of your Spirit by the hands of our Creator, Himself. The relationship that we have with him, particularly in our season of singleness, allows us that vulnerability and opportunity to fully indulge in discovery of his craftsmanship within the cultivation of ourselves. I’m not saying it’s easy. This is hard, delicate, progressive, ugly, convicting work. But it’s a progression that not only builds our own self-confidence and sense of security, it profoundly demonstrates the *identity* of Christ that dwells within us. That’s why the devil attacks the hardest when we are the most vulnerable in our season with God. Because this, THIS is the time, in which we learn WHOSE we are. We grow in our endurance, our strength, our determination of being a Kingdom Child. We begin to break down each part of ourselves in order to learn our genuine Purpose. We begin to identify flaws and weaknesses that the devil may use to project guilt and temptation upon us. (When you know your weaknesses, you can better defend attacks that come against it). Above all, we learn of our Kingdom Power as a child of God. We learn of our inheritance within the Kingdom through the sacrifice of Christ. We not only begin to learn and utilize the depth of His Word in scripture, we learn of its defense in demonic attacks. We begin to *thoroughly* implement His Word into our daily lives, mindsets, and patterns of behavior. In this season of singleness, we realize the definitive promise that *NO weapon formed against me will EVER prosper, in His Name.” In your season of singleness, there is no distraction. There is no barrier between you and your Creator. In this season of singleness, your learn the extent of your devout invincibility through Christ and that is above all the *greatest attack* against demonic terrorism.

If this is your season, I ask you to pray. I ask you to be raw, be real, be vulnerable, be authentic with the expression of your emotions. Trust that God sincerely knows. Above all, I ask you to hold on for every season has its expiration date. "For everything there is a season, and a time for every [a]purpose under heaven…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). This season can be ugly, prolonged, exhausting, seemingly hopeless, and wrought with a daily deliverance of repetitive mundanity. Change seems impossible. I ask that you hold on. If you seek first the righteousness of God and He has instilled the somewhat desperate desire for marriage within the depths of your spirit - know that he IS working it out for your good (Romans 8:28). For a long while, you may not see of it; you may not feel of it; you may doubt, try to quit, take back directional [life] control, and lose faith in Him. That’s okay. He knows. Remember that even an ounce of faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. Even if you quit on trusting Him for a short time, He will still deliver you in His time. Just *hang* on, even if by the fraying of a thread.

Additionally, please remember that “what is for you will always be for you.” As it’s often been heard, God is not in the business of delivering a package to the wrong house. No amount of witchcraft, peer manifestation, universal begging, or prophetic exercise will change that. God is the most High. Entrust in Him with this gentle reminder that perhaps while you’re developing in your season of singleness, your future spouse is praying for you to remain in a state of solitude until divine timely reunion. I have heard this gentle whisper from God myself for nearly two years now. Every time the devil tries to rile me up with rumors, doubts, questioning, *heavily* bestowed anxiety, mental scenarios of potential heartbreak, and reminders of our cultural dating patterns to deter me from my trust in God…. my Father reiterates this limitless, gentle whisper. “He’s waiting for you. He is divinely protected, and saved, by My Hand for your spiritual unity. Do not question, do not doubt. Be at peace. He is my Promise to you, and the answer to your Prayers. He will be for you, as I am for you. He will soon be with you. Trust in Me.” This has been the most refreshing *daily* reminder from my Provider.

If you’re enduring this tumultuous season of singleness, or you’re in a tiresome (seemingly obliterate) season of waiting on God, know that we’re in different boats enduring the same storm. The boat that carries you may be structurally assembled different than mine, you may be carrying a different weight, enduring a different depth of emotion or frustration, and weathering a different duration of this season; however, you’re not alone. We’re all lost in the same direction, trusting in the One who calms the storm. For what it’s worth, for however far you’ve made it, even if you’ve found yourself retracted into old habits and patterns, or feeling dismayed by a stump in the road… know that I understand, I am immensely proud of you, and you are doing an incredible job. This journey is not easy. At times we find ourselves in a Boston Whaler confronting a tsunami. You’re doing good a good job. You’re still doing good. And I promise you God has not quit on you. Even in times when you’ve quit on yourself. He will make a way. You’re doing good, and He is so proud. He gave you the endurance to outlast this trial because he knew you would conquer the quest. Just hang on. Remember to breathe. Rest in Him.

Better days are around the bend.

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newstfionline · 3 years

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Thursday, March 4, 2021

The ‘free world’ keeps shrinking (NYT) Three-quarters of the people on earth live in countries where freedom is declining. That’s one of the grim takeaways in an annual report produced by Freedom House, the Washington-based pro-democracy think tank and watchdog. This year’s survey, published Wednesday, marked the 15th consecutive year of global democratic backsliding—“a long democratic recession,” in the organization’s words, that is “deepening.” Freedom House grades individual countries on 25 indicators that evaluate the health of a given nation’s democracy (or lack thereof). The cumulative score then enables the organization, which has been in operation since 1941, to rank a given country as “Free,” “Partly Free,” or “Not Free.” Of the 195 independent countries evaluated, 73 saw aggregate score declines and only 28 saw growth. That margin is the widest of its kind in the past decade and a half. Moreover, 54 countries are now labeled “Not Free,” or about 38 percent of the world’s population, the highest share since 2005. Less than 20 percent of the world’s population lives in countries now classified as “Free.”

Vaccine Passports, Covid’s Next Political Flash Point (NYT) The next major flash point over coronavirus response has already provoked cries of tyranny and discrimination in Britain, protests in Denmark, digital disinformation in the United States and geopolitical skirmishing within the European Union. The subject of debate: vaccine passports—government-issued cards or smartphone badges stating that the bearer has been inoculated against the coronavirus. The idea is to allow families to reunite, economies to restart and hundreds of millions of people who have received a shot to return to a degree of normalcy, all without spreading the virus. Some versions of the documentation might permit bearers to travel internationally. Others would allow entry to vaccinated-only spaces like gyms, concert venues and restaurants. While such passports are still hypothetical in most places, Israel became the first to roll out its own last week, capitalizing on its high vaccination rate. Several European countries are considering following. President Biden has asked federal agencies to explore options. And some airlines and tourism-reliant industries and destinations expect to require them.

US infrastructure gets C- from engineers as roads stagnate (AP) America’s infrastructure has scored near-failing grades for its deteriorating roads, public transit and storm water systems due to years of inaction from the federal government, the American Society of Civil Engineers reports. Its overall grade: a mediocre C-. In its “Infrastructure Report Card” released Wednesday, the group called for “big and bold” relief, estimating it would cost $5.9 trillion over the next decade to bring roads, bridges and airports to a safe and sustainable level. That’s about $2.6 trillion more than what government and the private sector already spend. “America’s infrastructure is not functioning as it should, and families are losing thousands of dollars a year in disposable income as a result of cities having to fix potholes, people getting stuck in traffic or due to repairs when a water line breaks or the energy grid goes down,” said Greg DiLoreto, one of the group’s past presidents.

Pandemic puts 1 in 3 nonprofits in financial jeopardy (AP) More than one-third of U.S. nonprofits are in jeopardy of closing within two years because of the financial harm inflicted by the viral pandemic, according to a study being released Wednesday by the philanthropy research group Candid and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy. The study’s findings underscore the perils for nonprofits and charities whose financial needs have escalated over the past year, well in excess of the donations that most have received from individuals and foundations. The researchers analyzed how roughly 300,000 nonprofits would fare under 20 scenarios of varying severity. The worst-case scenario led to the closings of 38% of the nonprofits. Even the scenarios seen as more realistic resulted in closures well into double digit percentages. “If you are a donor who cares about an organization that is rooted in place and relies on revenue from in-person services, now is the time probably to give more,” said Jacob Harold, Candid’s executive vice president.

Biden Sanctions Russia Over Navalny Poisoning (Foreign Policy) The United States imposed sanctions Tuesday on a number of Russian individuals and entities linked to the poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny. The move was made in concert with the European Union, which issued separate asset freezes and travel bans on four Russians. The Russian Foreign Ministry has brushed off the impact of the moves, while threatening a reciprocal response. “Irrespective of America’s ‘sanctions addiction,’ we will continue to consistently and decisively defend our national interests, rebuffing any aggression. We urge our colleagues not to play with fire,” Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, said on Wednesday. According to White House officials, more U.S. sanctions targeting Russians involved in the SolarWinds hack, the alleged bounty program on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, and Russian interference in the 2020 election are expected soon.

Biden’s Afghan dilemma (The New Yorker) Afghanistan presents Joe Biden with one of the most immediate and vexing problems of his Presidency. If he completes the military withdrawal, he will end a seemingly interminable intervention and bring home thousands of troops. But, if he wants the war to be considered anything short of an abject failure, the Afghan state will have to be able to stand on its own.

Greece: Thousands spend night outdoors after powerful quake (AP) Fearful of returning to their homes, thousands of people in central Greece were spending the night outdoors late Wednesday after a powerful earthquake, felt across the region, damaged homes and public buildings. The shallow, magnitude-6.0 quake struck near the central city of Larissa. One man was hurt by falling debris but no serious injuries were reported. Officials reported structural damage, mainly to old houses and buildings that saw walls collapse or crack. One of them was a primary school, stone-built in 1938, in the quake-hit village of Damasi where 63 students were attending classes. “The teachers kept their cool and the pupils stuck to the emergency drill, and everyone got out okay,” headmaster Grigoris Letsios said while on a video call with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The army set up tents and meal counters at a nearby soccer field as local officials urged people to remain outside their homes until they could be inspected. A series of powerful aftershocks of up to 5.2 magnitude kept many residents on edge.

Indian Government Regulation Squeezes Christian Charities (CT) For Christians trying to care for the poor in India, there is always a need for more prayer, more hands, and more money. Much of that money comes from donors in other countries. Recently, though, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has tightened regulations on foreign funding to nonprofits, including Christian groups that feed orphans, run hospitals, and educate children. Since Modi took office in 2014, the Indian government has revoked permission for more than 16,000 nongovernmental organizations to receive foreign funding, using the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). “It is deliberately an assault against the nonprofit sector,” said Vijayesh Lal, the general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India, “and that includes the churches.” While the FCRA is not designed specifically to target Christian groups, experts say its cumbersome regulations have been used by the ruling parties in India to stifle political and religious dissidents since the law’s adoption in 1976.

Intense preparations before pontiff meets Iraqi ayatollah (AP) In Iraq’s holiest city, a pontiff will meet a revered ayatollah and make history with a message of coexistence in a place plagued by bitter divisions. One is the chief pastor of the world-wide Catholic Church, the other a pre-eminent figure in Shiite Islam whose opinion holds powerful sway on the Iraqi street and beyond. Their encounter will resonate across Iraq, even crossing borders into neighboring, mainly Shiite Iran. Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani are to meet on Saturday for at most 40 minutes, part of the time alone except for interpreters, in the Shiite cleric’s modest home in the city of Najaf. Every detail was scrutinized ahead of time in painstaking, behind-the-scenes preparations that touched on everything from shoes to seating arrangements. For Iraq’s dwindling Christian minority, a show of solidarity from al-Sistani could help secure their place in Iraq after years of displacement—and, they hope, ease intimidation from Shiite militiamen against their community. Iraqi officials in government, too, see the meeting’s symbolic power—as does Tehran. The 90-year-old al-Sistani has been a consistent counterweight to Iran’s influence. With the meeting, Francis is implicitly recognizing him as the chief interlocutor of Shiite Islam over his rival, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Pentagon: US contractor dies in rocket attack at Iraq base (AP) A U.S. contractor died Wednesday when at least 10 rockets slammed into an air base housing U.S. and other coalition troops in western Iraq, the Pentagon said. Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the contractor “suffered a cardiac episode while sheltering” and died shortly afterward. He said there were no service members injured and all are accounted for. British and Danish troops also are among those stationed at the base. The rocket attack was the first since the U.S. struck Iran-aligned militia targets along the Iraq-Syria border last week, killing one militiaman and stoking fears of another cycle of tit-for-tat attacks as happened more than a year ago. Those attacks included the U.S. drone strike in January 2020 that killed Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani in Baghdad and set off months of increased troops levels in the region. Wednesday’s death of the contractor heightens worries that the U.S. could be drawn into another period of escalating attacks.

Reports: Myanmar security forces kill at least 33 protesters (AP) Myanmar security forces dramatically escalated their crackdown on protests against last month’s coup, killing at least 33 protesters Wednesday in several cities, according to accounts on social media and local news reports compiled by a data analyst. That is highest daily death toll since the Feb. 1 takeover, exceeding the 18 that the U.N. Human Rights Office said were killed on Sunday, and could galvanize the international community, which has responded fitfully thus far to the violence. Videos from Wednesday also showed security forces firing slingshots at demonstrators, chasing them down and even brutally beating an ambulance crew. Demonstrators have regularly flooded the streets of cities across the country since the military seized power and ousted the elected government of leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Their numbers have remained high even as security forces have repeatedly fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds to disperse the crowds, and arrested protesters en masse.

China’s vaccine diplomacy campaign (AP) The plane laden with vaccines had just rolled to a stop at Santiago’s airport in late January, and Chile’s president, Sebastián Piñera, was beaming. “Today,” he said, “is a day of joy, emotion and hope.” The source of that hope: China—a country that Chile and dozens of other nations are depending on to help rescue them from the COVID-19 pandemic. China’s vaccine diplomacy campaign has been a surprising success: It has pledged roughly half a billion doses of its vaccines to more than 45 countries, according to a country-by-country tally by The Associated Press. With just four of China’s many vaccine makers claiming they are able to produce at least 2.6 billion doses this year, a large part of the world’s population will end up inoculated not with the fancy Western vaccines boasting headline-grabbing efficacy rates, but with China’s humble, traditionally made shots. Inoculations with Chinese vaccines already have begun in more than 25 countries, and the Chinese shots have been delivered to another 11, according to the AP tally.

Taiwanese urged to eat ‘freedom pineapples’ after China import ban (The Guardian) Taiwanese pineapples have become the latest victim of deteriorating cross-strait relations, after Chinese authorities suddenly banned imports of the fruit. The ban, which began on Monday and is indefinite, was announced by the Chinese customs office on Friday. The customs office said harmful pests had been detected in recent shipments. Taiwan’s government rejected the claim, accusing Beijing of making an “unacceptable” unilateral decision, and urging citizens and international allies to eat “freedom pineapples” in support of the domestic industry, echoing the campaign to support Australia’s wine producers after Beijing imposed tariffs last year. Beijing has a history of enacting trade sanctions during international disputes, most recently with Australian wine, coal and barley, action that can cause significant economic damage to industry and put pressure on rival governments. Relations with Taiwan are at the lowest in decades. Despite the Communist party never ruling Taiwan, Beijing considers it to be a province of China, and has vowed to unite it with the mainland, by force if necessary.

Lebanese anger at economy grows as political deadlock persists (Reuters) Protesters blocked some roadways in Lebanon for a second day on Wednesday after the currency’s fall to a new low further enraged a population long horrified by the country’s financial meltdown. In the past year, Lebanon has been through a popular uprising against its political leaders, the bankruptcy of the state and banking system, a COVID-19 pandemic and, in August, a huge blast that killed 200 people and destroyed parts of Beirut. The financial crisis has wiped out jobs, raised warnings of growing hunger and locked people out of their bank deposits. The collapse of the Lebanese pound, which fell to 10,000 to the dollar on Tuesday, slashed about 85% of its value in a country relying heavily on imports. It was the last straw for many who have seen prices of consumer goods such as diapers or cereals nearly triple since the crisis erupted. Demonstrators burnt tyres and rubbish containers across many parts of Lebanon to block roads on Tuesday night.

#headlines #news

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fcbabyx · 5 years

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Elite S2 - Worth It

Hola, hola, hola, ¿cómo están?

Netflix España’s hit teenage drama, Eilte, is back with its second season and surprisingly, is worth it. In only 8 episodes, the writers managed to reveal who Marina’s killer is to the Elite squad while introducing 3 new characters that serve as catalysts for some of the main characters. - spoilers ahead, just a heads up.-

The Good

The writers found a new way to keep Marina’s storyline alive with a different point of view. The communication between the teens and how open they are talking about sex, drugs, problems, etc... is nice to see that.

The Bad

The temporary write off of both Nano and Christian was unnecessary. To some point, I understand why Nano would leave, but Christian’s case, that was some real class bullshit right there. You have the one main character that knows the truth and you decide to get rid of him in the first episode? The fuck? Oh yeah, you know why? Cause, that’s how you set up the whole Samuel x Carla bullshit... 🙄

The show is still 8 episodes long. I personally believe that at this point the show could afford to at least hit the double digits.

The Ugly

Cayetana - Talk about a fucking unnecessary character. Her arc is so bland that the best the writers could do was turn her into a modern age con-artist, cause mind you that’s what she is, until her purpose was finally exposed a.k.a Polo. Also, Cayetana is the one character that is used to give in house bitch, Lucrecia a redemption arc and humanize her again, she is still a bitch tho.

Breakdown

Samuel goes missing. Okay. Christian gets run over by Carla’s dad hit squad. Okay. Let’s stop. As mentioned above Christian gets written off by a car “accident” that paralyzes him and hey, the in laws are willing to pay for his recovery in Sweden....so off to Sweden and just like that the one character that could have ratted out both Carla and Polo is taken care off. The only reason that shit had to happen is cause Carla had to fall for Samuel. I personally think is bullshit, that Christian didn’t asked for a moment by himself and Samuel and just spilled the beans. Por que puñetaaaa, if your bestfriend’s brother who is also your other bestfriend is in jail, you would think some he would try to do something, realistically speaking that’s what teenagers would do. However, that shit doesn’t happen. So Bye bye Christian.

Samuel and Carla, talk about, de el odio al amor hay solo un paso, bullshit. Fans are going crazy over this ship but is an excellent example of the writers doing a good job at setting this bullshit up and getting away with it. Let me remind you that Carla not once looked at Samuel, like oh yeah I wanna fuck him in season one. She was swayed by Christian and that was the introduction to the Polo x Carla x Christian dynamic. So in season 2, it took Samuel giving her a little attention when her boytoy, Christian is not around, and she just gives in. Literally that’s all it took, like one episode. It took Christian more effort than Samuel, just throwing that in there. However, this happened because, in order for Samuel to be found, Carla had to “break” and confess and expose Polo. That is the plan that both Samuel and Guzman come up with and it works. She “out of love” breaks and exposes Polo. 🙄To be honest with you, i was waiting for the moment that she would also deal with legal consequences for helping him out but you know, una puta con corazon de oro. Let’s be real Carla’s character has no purpose except for sex appeal and the Polo expose, that’s it, that’s the character. Cool thing that came out of it is Samuel and Guzman’s friendship.

Nadia and Guzman, let’s be real, their appeal is the whole Romeo and Juliet trope in a modern society. Guzman goes through a lot of emotions due to Marina, Lu, and Nadia. Eventually he breaks, it was bound to happen but he also finally, leaves Lucrecia. Now, it is Nadia that is getting all the backlash from the fans. Nadia in the eyes of many has been reduced from a badass proud Muslim girl to I’ll do anything to get Guzman, which is bullshit. Nadia’s transformation is 2 seasons long. One she finally breaks free on her own accords and 2, she takes control of her own actions without being forced by outside forces. Example, Lucrecia and the hijab bullshit at school. People have to realize that Nadia is the character that will defend her right to do what she wants, when she wants to, not because someone is forcing her to do so. It takes two seasons of context for her character to come alive.

She also gains a new female bestie, Rebeca. Rebeca is one of the catalysts of this season. She is one of Nadia’s biggest cheerleaders and confidants. A teenage girl usually needs a female bestie, and Rebeca is that for Nadia. Rebeca is also kinda used by Samuel, but Samuel is also used by her mom. The point is that Rebeca’s biggest purpose in the show is to be Nadia’s girl. I’m okay with that.

Lucrecia and Valerio, the Cruel Intentions + Flowers on the Attic dynamic, just doesn’t cut it. So here is my theory and the more I think about it and analyze it, it makes sense. The writers needed someone to beat Lucrecia with her own tactics, and who better than her half brother former lover Valerio? This is the perfect example of taste your own medicine. Nadia went head to head with Lu and won and lost. Guzman, lord knows it took too damn long for him to call it off and be honest about his lack of love for her, so here comes Valerio and does what needed to be done, he breaks her but in the process he breaks himself as well. I am not a fan of the incest, but Valerio is by far the best introduction this season. He, for the wrong seasons, wanted Nadia and Guzman together; however in the process he becomes friends with Nadia, which I personally appreciated. He also, makes the selfish stupid decision in recording her and Guzman having sex and sending the video to Lu, hoping that Lu would wake up from Luland and see that Guzman, just doesn’t love you anymore and it works. The backlash is that she spreads the video, to which he tells Nadia that he is the one who took it, and there goes their friendship. Mind you, all of this is after, he tells Nadia the whole incest thing. Eventually Lucrecia snaps in a fake gala by truly yours, Cayetana, exposes Cayetana, Guzman’s relationship, and has her emotional bullshit breakdown after she fucks her brother, then she fucks him again. So Valerio done with her bullshit, in the family dinner text’s daddy to look underneath the table y puta madre, quedo cabron!!!! Daddy gets to see how close his 2 kids really are. Now my only complaint is that at the end of season 2 Valerio is nowhere to be found while Rebe and Cayetana are still there, which makes sense. I personally would have liked to see the del amor al odio es solo un paso, cause let’s be real, Lucrecia will always be the greedy bitch of my way or my way and the only one that can beat her at it is her own fucking brother. I needed that. I need that.

Ander and Omar, the growth, their communication, the trust, the love, the love, fucking amazing. Omar, gets kicked out for finally standing up to his father, so he goes to Ander’s. He gains freedom and a non-toxic home that he, himself, said he is not going back to. He gets a job, he gets to dress up, and just be himself, fucking shit, HE DESERVES IT, PUÑETA! Ander on the other hand, has to deal with the hey my bestfriend killed my other bestfriend’s sister, cause Polo actually tells him. Ander’s emotional and mental state, did get the best of him to some point, his relationship with Omar gets affected, his relationship to Guzman eventually goes to shit, and Polo, well you know. However, Omar and Ander do figure things out, cause somehow, they are a mature couple that do loves each other. 👏👏👏👏👏👏

Cayetana and Polo, let’s be real, I don’t like the bitch. She gets introduced as another high class snob and immediately becomes friends with Lu. In the process she falls for Polo. Cayetana is ashamed of her poor life background and literally lies and fakes her way through life. It gets to the point that to pay off a debt of a dress she stole, she makes up this fundraiser gala that Lu eventually makes it a reality for her, in order for her to get the money to pay off the debt and keep the rest for her school, family, etc... that’s a con-artist, period. This bitch has no purpose except that she becomes Polo’s new partner in crime. She hides the trophy, y’all. That’s it, that’s the character. She’s so bland. She is so useless. In all honesty, she is not needed, Polo could had turned on Carla and bring her down too, but deep down he is still in love with her and his anxiety gets the best of him, and that I understand. Cayetana is now the worst character in the series. Con artist and partner in crime with a killer.

Also, Polo is technically a killer but not really. He killed Marina, in what it looks like as a pre-anxiety breakdown and a fit of rage trying to protect Carla. Keep in mind he didn’t wanted to kill her, he actually asked multiple times for the fucking watch , is not premeditated murder, he was trying to get the watch back and his worry over Carla pushed him to a breaking point. On top of that Marina coming at him made him snap. In season 2 his anxiety is in an all time high, due to the secret. He and Ander do bail out Nano, but he never confesses. In a way I do blame the writers in not wanting to bring Carla down, by not having Polo confess and point her as the one to suggest to cover up and shit, cause she was trying to protect daddy, who needs no fucking protection. This would have been completely different season, if Polo and Christian would had teamed up against Carla. That right there would have been fucking fantastic. In reality the culprit and catalyst of this are Marina and the watch, but the main problem is Carla’s dad. If Polo and Christian would had teamed up with Samuel and Guzman, it would have been a total different season, granted that also meant that Polo had to confess his act to Guzman, but it would have been a total different season. In reality Elite needs a villain and right now Polo is the easier choice. Is clear that if season 3 comes through, it will be a them vs Polo + Cayetana, which is fine I guess, but it steers away from the actual reason it happened, the fucking watch. I’m not saying Carla’s dad is corrupt, but Carla’s dad is corrupt.

Tl;dr: Season 2, exposes Polo by making Carla fall in love with Samuel. Lucrecia breaks cause she can’t have everything she wants, from Guzman to her brother, so she spreads a video of Nadia and Guzman having sex, real classy. Omander is still alive. Rebeca is a true friend. Guzman and Samuel are a good combo. Cayetana is a con artist that helps Polo to walk free by retrieving the trophy from the lake and hiding it. That’s it that’s the season.

I do believe that Elite’s downfall is not wanting to finish the murder storyline. Ideally they would wrap up the Marina murder storyline and shift the focus onto Carla’s dad and the watch, but that shit is not going to happen let’s be real.

Overall score : Is a solid 4/5.

#elite #elite netflix #season 2 #s2 #opinion #polo #carla #samuel #nano #guzman #nadia #ander #omar #omand #lucrecia #lu #valerio #rebeca #cayetana

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reeree1500 · 5 years

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The Return-Part 4

Okay y'all here's Part 4. OMG I cannot believe the amount of love that this story has gotten😍 it truly warms my heart, that an idea I had a while ago and have now just started writing has been loved by so many of you:) And with that lets get on to the storyyyy

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 part 8 part 9

Taglist: @yanii-the-hippie @oceans-daughter-3 @peaceisadirtyword @laketaj24 @camatsuru @amy8220 @cutegyrl927 @cindy-exo @cainismyname @affection-rabbit @ragnarssonsbitch @mel0nch0ly @wuxiesalt

Disclaimer: My sucky ass writing as always:) Some slight insinuation of incest; Fluff (an attempt anyway); And bad grammar and spelling (sorryyyy); Heart palpitations according to @yanii-the-hippie 😂 Hope you all enjoy☺️

Your POV

My head hurts so much that I feel as if I've just been hit by a carriage. The sounds of arguing around me do not help the situation at all. So I try to not focus on the pain or the voices around me that won't subside and remember what happened. Images of Mira surface in my mind. Her corpse on the floor and the death rune carved into her back. My best friend and most trusted subject was killed because of me. I can't help but wince at the realization that I will never be rid of the death and chaos that I bring everywhere with me.

Fluttering my eyes open, my eyes wander looking for the source of those voices. As I begin to stand up from the very comfortable bed, I scan the room trying to find any trace of the people who were in here earlier. My eyes land on a pile of shirts neatly placed on the table. Walking towards them I come to notice that Im not in my dress anymore, but in what's seems to be a mans shirt. “Nice pair of legs you got there (y/n), wanna trade with me for a while?” At the sound of Ivars voice, I shriek and turn around whilst trying to pull down the shirt that is covering my body. “Ivar what the hell!” At the sound of my screaming Ivar just walks closer to me with a smirk gracing his perfect face. “W..what are you doing?!?!” His hands grasp onto mine and all I can do at that moment is stare back at him with my eyes and mouth open wide in shock. “You're gonna ruin my shirt if you continue to pull it down. Plus, you don't want me to see your breasts now do you?” At that, all the blood from my body rushes to my face. Turning me as red as an apple.

Ivar grabs my face in his hands and his eyes scan over it. “I know we’ve just met. And its probably really wrong for me to feel what I‘m feeling, considering you're my sister. But, when you were unconscious it was probably the hardest thing I have gone through so far in my life. Not knowing if you would wake up was a nightmare that I could not wake up from.” Ivar says with an exasperated sigh. “Ivar....” I begin to say, but am soon interrupted by his lips placed on mine. I know I shouldn't reciprocate his feelings towards me or his kiss for that matter. But, the fact of the matter is that even in this short amount of time, this man has made feel things that I have not felt in my whole life. This man however is my brother and that is something that will not change. Soon the warmth of his soft and plump lips leave mine. Before I can say something about how inappropriate that was, Ivar is already walking towards the door. You know for a cripple he’s fairly fast.

“You know (y/n) I’m so excited for what's in store in our future.” He says as he reaches the door. Rearing his head to where I still stand in utter shock of what just transpired seconds ago. “Especially, since we now share a room.” At that Ivar winks at me and leaves the room, with that smirk on his face. Once the door is closed my legs give out from underneath me. “Lord what have I just gotten myself into. It is wrong for me to have these sort of thoughts and feelings for my brother. Please give me the strength necessary in order to get through this.” As I look up and close my eyes I can only beg that he hears my prayer and somehow gives me the power to get through this. But knowing the almighty, something will happen.

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As the weeks went on by, we had buried Mira the Christian way. Although nearly no one shared my beliefs, it felt nice to be able to have Mira been given the respect she deserved. People had brought flowers and different types of gifts to me in order show me their condolences. On the outside I had to be strong and show them that whoever did this had not gotten to me. However, my family knew all too well the toll it took on me. Especially Ivar, who would hold me at night and whisper sweet nothings into my ear when I had the recurring nightmare of that night. The raid that was supposed to occur after the festival was cancelled. I had expected many people to be upset at the fact that it was. But what I saw was a community come together for someone they did not know. And that is what I missed the most about Kattegat. The people. My people.

Ragnar, Bjorn, and Ubbe had decided to lead an investigation into who had murdered Mira. So far they had gotten a couple of leads, but nothing that would certainly pinpoint who the culprit was. In his worry my father had decided to teach me how to fight, so that I would be able to defend myself if it came down to it. He knew that this was a personal attack on me. And a personal attack on a son or daughter of Ragnar Lothbrok was an attack on him too. “Come on my beautiful sister, we have some more training to do.” I can hear Hvitserk say as he comes up from behind me. “Is that really necessary Hvitty? We trained yesterday!” On the weeks that went by I could say that Hvitty and I got really close. Closer than probably me and Ivar are. After the kiss with Ivar, I had tried to put as much distance between myself and him. What we had done was wrong and a sin. And I could not allow myself to give in to such temptations.

However, that doesn't mean that Ivar still didn’t try to get closer to me. Every chance he got I var would hold my hand or hug me from behind. I knew that people where beginning to get the wrong idea, as I had caught Margrethe talking about how “close” we were for siblings. As soon as I heard that I began to make sure to only talk or look at Ivar if necessary. Waking me up from my thoughts Hvitserk takes my hand and leads me out of the hall. “Im coming. Im coming. Calm down!” I cannot help but contain my laugh at Hvitserk’s desire to want to train with me. Its probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. “You look like a child anxious to play with a brand new toy, Hvitty.” At that Hvitserk lets out a chuckle. “Only of you're the brand new toy and I get to play with you everyday.” he winks at me as he says this. “Come on you're distracting me, let’s get to work. Legs shoulder width apart and make sure you have good balance...”

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Bjorn POV

“We must have gotten somewhere by now! I want whoever is responsible dead!” my father screams at Ubbe and I. “Father, we've searched through and through, but there are no certain leads! Its a he said she said situation thus far!” Ubbe yells back at him. “Do not tell me what I already know, boy! I just cannot help but feel useless and like I am not able to protect my own. We all know that that was supposed to be your sister dead, not that poor girl.” at that he trails off. My father has lost way too much over the years. Many friends have come and gone. But the way we buried Mira, could only remind him of his best friend Athelstan. The Christian priest that changed his life (and mine believe it or not) for the better. He was murdered too, and that has always been a constant reminder to him of someone he could not save.

“What I think that we should be doing instead of arguing is perhaps, finding someone who is good at unmasking people. Since none of us can seem to find who it could be.” I tell them both, getting tired of their back and forth arguing. “And who would you suggest Bjorn. No one can know that (y/n) is here, besides the people of Kattegat. Our enemies will know how to get us. Hell one of them probably was behind this!” my father reciprocates. “I think we all know who I’m talking about. Im just wondering if you'll be able to reel in and control that bitch of yours, when she gets here. Since I’ve already sent word to her.” I bark back at my father. I don't know if its because im sick of him treating me as if ill never be good enough. Or because (y/n)’s life is on the line, but I had never found the courage to stand up to my father, until now. At my words my father becomes silent. It might the loads of ale Ive had today, but I swear that I can see what seems to be pride in his eyes. “How long?” “One day’s ride” It is then that my father shouts to the thralls...

“Prepare the great Hall! The Queen is coming home!”

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Your POV

As the hours went by and my training had somewhat gotten better, I pleaded with Hvitserk to do something else. “Okay!Okay! We’ll stop training! But what else do you want to do?” Hvitserk's says shielding his sword. “I don't know, back in Frankia Uncle Rollo used to take me to the lake and taught me how to swim. Is there a lake nearby?” At that Hvitserk looks at me like I‘ve grown horns and a huge smile breaks out. “Come on, let’s eat quickly and then I have somewhere I wanna take you!” Rushing towards me Hvitserk grabs my hand and we quickly run off towards the great hall. Once we both quickly swallow our food, we head to the stables. There we find non other than Ivar in what seems to be him being pleasured by a thrall.

“Oh, Im so sorry. We didn't mean to intrude.” I say whilst quickly turning around. “Awww you're so cute (y/n), you’ve never seen or been pleasured before?!?!? Is that why you're as red as a tomato right now?” Hvitserk chuckles at me while trying to pry my hands away from my face. “Shut upppp!! Hvitty, get the horse and lets goooo!!” I chuckle nervously at him. “Its ok (y/n), you should take notes from Margrethe here. Who knows you might have to use them some day.” Ivar manages to say through his... compromising position. “Well Ivar, (y/n) and I are gonna go on a little adventure. Don't wait up...” At that Hvitserk grabs the reins on the horse and passes them on to me. “You know how to ride (y/n)?.” “Of course, Hvitty. Its literally my favourite thing to do.” “I’m glad to hear that. Now lets go!” And with that Hvitserk and I were off to God knows where. But one thing I knew for sure was that if Hvitserk was involved, we were sure to have a good time.

Bjorn POV

Soon the day had gone by and it was just a matter of time before my mother was here. You could hear a pin drop in the great hall. The anxiousness that lingered in the air was so thick that you could probably cut it with a knife. My father could not stop bouncing his leg, some thing he did when he too was nervous or didn't know the outcome of certain events. My head quickly towards the doors when I heard the neighing and hooves of the horses. At that we all stood up and thats when both Ubbe and I noticed we were missing certain people. “Ivar, where's (y/n) and Hvitserk? They're supposed to be here or did you not tell them that we would have company tonight?” I whisper at him trying to not get noticed by father or Aslaug. “Probably fucking somewhere. You know they've gotten pretty close these past few weeks I wouldn't put it past them.” At that I just look at him shocked. “Are you sure it’s just him Ivar? Don't act like I haven’t caught you staring at our sister when she's taking bath or when she's walking around the market.” Sigurd chimes in. “Whatever we will resume this conversation after this. But send someone to get those two here. NOW!”

When I turn back I am able to see my father already walking towards the door with the family behind him. Making my way outside I catch a glimpse of my mother on horseback. The most beautiful woman to grace the earth and the most skilled in combat. She taught me everything I know and for that I could never thank her enough. Behind me came up my wife Torvi, I smile down at her and hold her hand. She knows that I will do anything for my family, especially my mother and sister. And I will protect them at any cost. As my mother gets down from her horse I immediately go towards her and give her a hug. “You know that surprise I told you about in the letter. Well, I have an even better one now.” I say whilst chuckling in her ear. “My son, how many times do I need to tell you that Im not so easily surprised.” She laughs back at me. You don’t know what's in store mother...

After much due catching up with my mother. It’s time to get down to business. Father fills mother in about the fact that there has been a murder the night go the spring festival. My mother begins to ask questions on how we've conducted the investigation, to which Ubbe fills her in. I cant seem to pry my eyes away from the doors. Hoping that my sister and brother walk into the hall safely. It’s been hours and no one has heard or seen of them. “Bjorn, are you okay? You're not really focused on the matter at hand?” Torvi says while placing her hand on my knee. “Yeah...Yeah, Im fine just a little anxious thats all.” At that she leaves it alone. It is then that we hear some jugs fall over and loads of laughter. “Hvitty get upppp. Everyone is gonna knowwww....” I can hear the slurs of my younger sister. “Pfttt.. Like they careeee, were just having some funnnn....” Great these two are drunk of their asses and dropping shit everywhere. It is then that they both enter the hall. (Y/n) is carrying Hvitserk, in what seems to be a futile attempt to act normal. But when her eyes land on the blonde graying hair of our mother she drops Hvitserk and immediately you can see that she sobers up.

“Mama...”

At that my mother stops talking. And her eyes begin to well up with tears. “No. it cannot be. It’s the gods playing tricks on me.” My mother says whilst looking down, refusing to turn around. My father gets up from his chair and kneels beside my mother. “It is true. She is here, come with me. I promise you she will not be taken from you again.” My father’s voice cracks at the end. As I truant where my sister stands I can see the pan and suffering coursing through her body. Her eyes show a small child that was ripped from her safe place and placed in an evil and hungry world, that only wanted to make her suffer. As my mother and father stand up I catch a glimpse of Aslaug and her stone cold face. That is filled with rage and what seems to be a predatory glare towards my sister. Trying to put it to rest and not say anything, I turn towards my parents. My father holds may mother in his arms as to keep her from falling over. “ My baby girl. Tell me that this was not dream that Ive had for the past 6 years and that you're actually here with me.” My mother manages to say through her tears. But,(y/n) is barely able to get anything out through her sobs. All she does is run to where my mother and father stand and embraces them. At that they all fall to the floor in their embrace. Hvitserk is now standing beside me. Watching, with the rest of us the reunion of a mother with her child. In my daze of being focused on my parents and sister reuniting I fail to realize that both Torvi and Aslaug are missing......

Aslaug POV

“She should have been dead!!! What part of kill the insolent bastard child do you not understand!” I scream at Torvi. “You did not tell me that she was the daughter of Ragnar and Lagertha. Much less Bjorn's sister!” I had ordered Torvi to kill (y/n) so that what I had done that night many years ago, would not come back to haunt me or my family. I did this in order to protect them. That insolent child will only bring death with her. The death of our gods. And that is something I will not allow. I had faked to not have known about her existence all that time ago, but I cannot put past me the prophecy that was foretold by the volva. I will do anything in my power to make sure that she gets nowhere near my sons. For I rather die then see an era were Vikings and Christians alike are one people.... “When Helga and Floki get to the dock. Report back to me immediately and tell Floki that he has an unfinished job from 6 years ago.” As I stare at my husband and his so called “family” I cannot help, but get a bad feeling about this.

That Christian child will pay for coming between my family....

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missfay49 · 5 years

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Sanders Sides Theory – July 3, 2019-August 16, 2019

The last side will be Aggression. Please enjoy this short essay explaining why.

Looong post below the cut.

Premise:

Orange. The mythical last Side needed to complete the rainbow that is C!Thomas. According to color theory, orange signifies High Activity, Action, Impulse, and… Aggression. But many of the sides don’t neatly fit into any of the traditional color theories. While it would complete the rainbow, their color is not going to define their trait. So just toss that out right now.

I racked my brain to come up with another unspoken personality trait that could be considered shameful like Deceit and Remus, that C!Thomas could possibly have within him. I actually sat on this post for more than a month because the pieces didn’t fit. But now that I’ve started to see other posts about the last Side being Anger, in the context of standing up for oneself, (Righteous Fury) I think it makes sense. What is the literally opposite of how we view C!Thomas in these videos? Kind, sympathetic, accepting C!Thomas? Aggression and violence.

Examples of Violence or Aggression in the show:

AoVD – Roman slays a dragon-witch to protect an imaginary Valerie. Roman is considered to be acting par-for-the-course for killing the dragon-witch, and no one minds because he did it to defend someone.

AA - Login throws a keyboard at Thomas to make a point.

-Some kinds of violence are acceptable to society, like defeating ‘bad’ people. Or for science.

LNTAO – Logan screams and throws a crumpled paper at Roman, hitting him in the eye. This causes Patton and Roman to lead a full-on puppet-based theatrical production about why we need to express our feelings in healthy ways. (Logan had to hit him in the eye, for the sake of the idiom, “an eye for an eye”.) (Also, Logan had a feeling for once, and it was anger.)

EP – Virgil throws a rock at C!Thomas and hits him in the face, but immediately feels bad about it.

-Some kinds of violence are not acceptable.

(I’m leaving out the latest episode for a reason.)

The Sides have quietly been exploring and dealing with aggression the whole time. This is also why Virgil, as someone trying to reform themselves, seems to actually be afraid of the yet-unknown ‘other’ Side. He knows how bad something like that has the potential to be. With the last episode’s reveal of Remus, he seems resigned to the fact that all the Sides will eventually come out, and he can’t control or prepare for it as much as he thought he could. He’s scared.

Counter-Argument:

Let me stop you right there- if the other sides act out and are violent or aggressive sometimes, does that mean there needs to be a whole ‘nother side for it? Why isn’t that just something they do?

One Side exhibiting a trait from another Side is par for the course, of course. We were not officially introduced to Deceit until episode CLBG, but Virgil has been specifically reminding everyone not to lie since way back in AOVD, as well as several episodes that bring up instances of lying to ourselves, or denying reality: ANYOLTM, TDSOD, AOVD. Patton, Roman, and Logan have all been caught lying since early episodes, despite us not knowing Deceit existed. Therefore, the fact that many of them have acted aggressively in the past is a solid indicator that Aggression will be its own Side.

The Meat of the Argument – Suppression:

There are no light or dark sides, good or bad sides. There are only those sides that C!Thomas has, or has not, already accepted are a part of him.

Being nurturing, logical, and creative (to an extent) are all sides that have been encouraged in him, and most of us, from early childhood. Showing these traits is considered positive behavior, and conducive to functioning in society.

There are no light or dark sides.

Meanwhile, being duplicitous or selfish, creating things that seem too dark, or having paranoid thoughts are all often dismissed or considered to be unacceptable by large swaths of people, particularly when we’re young. As my own example, I went to a Christian pre-school in 1992-93 (I’m old, okay?). One day while finger-painting, I drew a large green snake attacking an airplane. Yeah, that’s right, I came up with “Snakes on a Plane”, and that’s why I included the date. Suck it, Hollywood.

That finger-painting was, and still is, the best depiction of an airplane I have ever produced. I can still picture it. I was so proud, I excitedly told my teacher exactly what was going on in the scene when she asked. She promptly took it away and threw it in the trash, because, “Violence is wrong.”

I cried. I hadn’t actually attacked a plane full of people, or created a real life violent snake. I’d only thought about it and drawn a picture. It was a compelling story for a five year old!

Suppressing ‘negative’ thoughts doesn’t help us. Every Side only wants what’s best for C!Thomas. Virgil wants to protect him. Deceit wants him to be successful. Remus wants C!Thomas to be free to express himself, without being limited by what society (or even his own wholesome viewers) might find acceptable.

Yet, we are taught to suppress these kinds of thoughts and ideas, to deny they even exist. But we know, because the series shows us, that even these ‘darker’ sides can be useful. How?

All things in moderation.

Moderation is the key. Focusing too much on any one facet hurts us, while working towards a balance helps us. Even our acceptable traits can hurt us when they’re taken to the extreme: Being too logical can lead to disregarding feelings and producing lower quality work, just for the sake of meeting a deadline. Being too fanciful can cause us to get lost in a daydream when we need to take care of our responsibilities. Being too protective of an ideal can make us blind to the way someone is trying to express themselves.

One by one, C!Thomas has shown how each Side can be helpful to him. And anxiety is the key, the linchpin. Feeling stress can be a way to alert us of possible dangers, societal faux-pas, and cause us to change course to ensure a positive outcome. This is the base human emotion, that for centuries has allowed us to conform, just a little, to stay in a group, and keep us from getting eaten by freakin’ wolves! Anxiety is accepted as useful.

Acceptance.

Heck, Remus was introduced and (more or less) accepted in a single (long) episode! I left out the examples of violence in his episode until now, because each and every one of them was ultimately accepted as just being a creative part of our brains that happens sometimes, unworthy of lingering on. They do not matter. It was immediately resolved that Remus simply can’t control or predict his imaginative outbursts, but would like to be accepted all the same because he doesn’t want C!Thomas to miss out on what could be a huge portion of his creative ability. He’s hurt by the fact he was rejected in the first place.

So, although Deceit has not yet been accepted per se, we can fully anticipate it, and the acceptance of any remaining unknown Sides, given enough time. And this pattern of acceptance will be their downfall.

Progression:

Why has it taken so long to get to this Side?

When the series first started, C!Thomas’s anxiety was high. He was just coming to accept it existed, let alone how to deal with it and turn it to his advantage. When you feel anxious all the time, it’s incredibly difficult to ever really feel confident in yourself or what you’re doing. We can’t stick up for ourselves if we don’t feel confident about ourselves in the first place.

Anxiety directly inhibits Confidence.

Exactly through the act of resolving his various Sides, the Sides become more and more confident, more valid. C!Thomas grows as a person and feels more comfortable with who he is and his path. His anxiety evolves and balances out, allowing him to feel more confident in his decision making.

The point is always to achieve balance, and accept what each Side brings to the table. And now we’re finally at the most recent video, in which we literally come to terms with the ability to have dark thoughts without them necessarily changing our behavior in real life. Confidence becomes okay. He believes in his ability to make choices that are just, like in the literal courtroom conclusion. C!Thomas MUST reach the point where he can accept that premise, because otherwise Aggression would never be palatable. Standing up for yourself would never be possible. He could never be confident if he was still worried about randomly committing violent acts against his will.

In this episode, we see the result of a Virgil that has slowly been growing more confident in his role and purpose, because he and Patton demand the group just “trust us”. But a confident Virgil is like a feedback loop into the speaker: the noise becomes stronger, more distorted, and more painful with each iteration. When he finds himself aligned with Remus unexpectedly, his feelings of confidence sink and his doubt skyrockets.

Prediction:

Not in the next episode, but definitely coming up, C!Thomas will experience an injustice from outside forces. There will be an increased level of anxiety, in which Virgil reaches an unbearable level, and C!Thomas wonders if aggressively pursuing his goals will cause him to lose his sense of self. He was wronged, but how far is he willing to go to right it? Can he handle that kind of social conflict?

C!Thomas doesn’t believe in violence, sure, but he can’t let this one go, not after everything else he’s given up so far. Roman deserves this. He will ultimately be manipulated into tabling his Anxiety, because he feels he deserves to be successful, and he can’t afford to let fear stop him now.

The Set Up:

With Anxiety out of the way, something changes in the others. They feel free, more confident. This time the choice was knowingly made to reject Virgil, instead of leaving everyone confused like it did in AA. And at least some of them can feel justified about it, because he was getting out of control. They’ll bring him back when it’s all over, they tell themselves. But with Patton’s help, C!Thomas still feels one last pang of doubt. Was it right to remove Virgil? At this, Logan will turn on him, reasoning that the entire point of EVERYTHING was to be successful, and “now that we’re here, you’re just going to throw it all away? For what?! To save face with someone who doesn’t even deserve it? To let some jerk decide what you’re capable of, for you? This could be- IS everything we’ve been working towards!” The set-up of him being the savior in DWIT, and feeling more confident in his status as “cool” and capable, will be his driving force. Even Roman is on-board with this, he wants the spotlight so badly! Logan’s voice will change. He’ll become unreasonable, emotional. And at that point it will become clear he’s not himself. He will hit the floor like the battery just died in his little robot puppet. And what rises up in his place? Well...

Aggression will appear without any fancy dress. He will be wearing a t-shirt, possibly with some orange, or some small, hard-to-see detail indicating his trait, but will otherwise look exactly like C!Thomas does in everyday life. This is the insidiousness of anger and violent thoughts; You can never tell, just by looking, who might act on them.

He will be an energetic, twitching mess of barely controlled excitement, looking for any outlet. He might display potential traits for an addictive personality. He will give clear instructions and expect to be listened to. “Do it. Do it, now- STOP TALKING AND D-!“

All of the increasingly extravagant costumes for each new side have just been a misdirect leading up to this exact moment; A face-to-face confrontation with the part of C!Thomas that he feels most ashamed of: actual pride in himself.

Why?

Why would it be hard for someone to be proud of themselves?

Already addressed in DWIT, pride is a ‘sin’. We convince ourselves not to feel it, because the ‘right’ thing to do is accept our lot in life, to believe we don’t even deserve what we have, let alone dare to reach for more. One of the greatest struggles we face in a world where we have access to a relentless stream of information, is reconciling our position compared to others. Every time we get a role in the play, are we taking from someone else? Maybe we didn’t really earn that opportunity. The act of pursuing anything non-critical to survival is juxtaposed by our sense of justice. We struggled, so we deserve something for our efforts.

People who have struggled hard to make something of themselves, only to find their path blocked by someone else, something outside of their control… they snap. They reach an invisible marker in their timeline where they can choose to either be someone that always gives in, gives to others, never chooses themselves… or they can choose to stand up. And who helps us stand up? Deceit. Because if we aren’t willing to stand up to that roadblock for ourselves, we rationalize that it will benefit others. How many more people will this roadblock prevent from creating something? From succeeding? This isn’t just about us anymore, it’s about justice for all who come after! It is righteous! It is good! It’s US versus THEM!

That’s why, when we need to reject civility, anxiety has to go…

Conclusion:

Accepting Deceit is the first step. None of this works if he’s still an outlier. With the help of Deceit, Aggression will forcibly coerce and overpower each Side in turn as they try to defend C!Thomas, insisting that he is the last, and greatest, piece of the puzzle needed to ensure C!Thomas’s success and well-being. He is self-serving and unabashedly honest about it. The contrast will even make Deceit look more appealing: “See?” He mocks the Sides as they’re defeated. “I just wanted to give you a calm, civil version of all…” waving a gloved hand, “-this. But you wouldn’t listen and, now, here we are...”

But you wouldn’t listen.

C!Thomas will continue the pattern of acceptance, because every Side has to have some good in them, right? If Deceit can be good, so can Aggression. He doesn’t understand why the other Sides are being so stubborn. They don’t know what it feels like to be rejected just for being themselves, not like Deceit and Virgil. Like him.

Leaving us with one last, unanswered question: Who will C!Thomas be once all the Sides are revealed?

But that’s just a theory- a Game Theo- ha, just kidding. If this turns out to be all wrong, well, it was a good mental exercise. Hope you enjoyed.

#patton #virgil #remus #violence #logan #roman #deceit #orange #sanders sides theory

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luki-fanfic · 5 years

Text

A Kingdom For a Book: Part 2

I’m having way too much fun with this idea...

With one failed attempt under their belt, they end up having lunch in Chinatown before heading back to the hotel to regroup and debrief. Tsuna and Gokudera end up sitting on one bed, Gokudera nose deep in a laptop, while Yamamoto leans back on another, and Ryohei slumps the wrong way round in a chair.

“I see why the Ninth didn’t want us to come here,” Yamamoto says. “Do you think the owner knew who we were?”

Tsuna shook his head. “No, I think he would have treated us that way even if we weren’t Vongola. There was something about that shop...it just felt wrong.”

Ryohei frowns. “That’s strange to the extreme. This could be challenging.”

Gokudera is nodding, digging up the research he’d been tinkering with even before they arrived.

“Okay, so that building? It’s been there since the 1700’s,” he explains. “That’s when Soho was built up for the aristocracy, and the book shop’s been around since then. Which is pretty damn impressive considering the wealthy all more of less fled mid 1800’s when there was a cholera outbreak and the neighbourhood took a serious dive. I don’t think there’s a lot of business in London that have been in the same building that long, and if they did, they’re a lot more successful. At this point, A.Z.Fell & Co should be a historic monument or tourist attraction just due to it’s existence, but it’s only reputation-”

At this he tosses his hands up in the air in disbelief.

“-Is a handful of websites for rare book dealers bemoaning it’s existence! There’s a 3000 word essay on here that’s just analysing the opening times! I’ve never seen a white noise spot as bad as this outside of the mafia! It shouldn’t even be possible without mist flames!”

“Are we sure they’re not?” Yamamoto asks, head tilting.

Tsuna shakes his head.

“No,” he insists. “I don’t know what it was about that building, but flames weren’t involved. Besides, it’s too obvious in its refusal to sell.”

Everyone gives a slow nod at that, and Tsuna bites his lip.

“What we need it witness accounts,” he says. “We need to know what doesn’t work.”

This quickly results in Gokudera frantically tapping on his laptop again and setting up a video call with Dino in Italy. When he learns where they are, his face flinches – as if he’s just watched a man belly flop from a high dive.

“Reborn sent you where?” he asks. “The Ninth can’t possibly have approved that.”

“He wasn’t happy about it,” Tsuna admits. “But...it’s Reborn. You don’t really tell him no.”

Dino grimaces. “I feel for you little bro. I wish I could help, but I’ve never tried my luck against the devil of Soho.

“The devil of Soho?” the four repeat, and Dino chuckles.

“Oh, it’s kind of an in-joke among people who’ve tried,” he explains. “The shop is on a crossroad, and someone one suggested you’d probably have to sell your soul in exchange for a book from A.Z. Fell, and it kind of caught on. Plus, according to Christianity, devils or demons are supposed to be fallen angels, and they guy is called ‘Fell,’ so...”

Tsuna guesses it’s probably funnier for the Italians, because Gokudera’s openly cackling. Although that said, Ryohei is also grinning, so maybe he’s a fan of the crossroads story. The boxer does often enjoy American music…

“You might as well give selling your soul a shot though,” Dino continues. “Because I don’t have the slightest clue what else would work.”

Yamamoto frowns, leaning back in a stretch that almost looks painful.

“If we can’t buy a book, can we just buy out the shop?” he asks Dino, and Gokudera brightens.

“The Baseball Idiot has a point. I mean, this is Soho, and that shop can’t be making enough to stay in business. Can’t we just buy the building, or bribe the owner?”

“You really think nobody ever thought of that?” Dino asks, eyebrows raising. “The Fell family are loaded; they own that building, and they’ve never accepted a single offer.”

“Then we’ll make it a really good one. Reborn said our credit limit was unlimited for this-”

“Ten years ago Mr. Fell was offered five times what the building was worth and he didn’t even think it over” Dino interrupts. “And if you think you can scare him out, think again. People have tried everything from hiking his electric bills to bribing the council to shut him down for health reasons. I hear the building was even set on fire once. Nothing sticks, and it always comes back round to whoever tried their luck. An awful lot of enforcers change careers after a run in with A.Z. Fell.”

Dino sounds a little bitter by the end, and Tsuna frowns.

“That sounds a little personal,” he says. “Did Reborn try and make you go?”

His self proclaimed older brother suddenly finds it very hard to meet his eyes.

“No, but let’s just say I have it on good authority that one of the reasons my family ended up in such dire financial straights is because my grandfather tried to ah...convince Mr. Fell to move into a building owned by my family so he could have regular access to his collection,” Dino says. “A week later, there’s a freak accident with our accountant’s computer systems that sees 60% of our assets frozen while a record of all our recent financial dealings was sent first class to the local police department. By the time we cleared it up the money was gone.”

Gokudera does a full body flinch.

“How-”

“I don’t know. And I don’t want to know” Dino tells him. “Some of those financials weren’t even supposed to have a paper trail. When my negotiation trial came up, I told Reborn I wasn’t setting foot in that shop. That I’d try and negotiate peace in Korea before I went to Soho.”

Yamamoto whistles, and Tsuna’s optimism sinks even more.

“Where’d you end up?” Tsuna asks.

“Guinea-Bissau,” Dino says. “Came out of it with only two bullets wounds too.”

“...Thats...good?” Tsuna offers, frantically trying to remember exactly where on a map that was, and Dino shrugs.

“Better than Xanxus any way” he offers. “He was lucky to get out intact.”

Yamamoto immediately lights up. “Oh yeah. The Ninth said he’d tried.”

“Lets call the Varia, to the extreme!” Ryohei agrees.

“Not sure how useful he’ll be,” Dino warns as they say goodbye. “His tactics weren’t really compatible with you.”

That’s hardly news to Tsuna, but a list of what definitely wont work is better than no list at all at this point. Yamamoto is already punching in Squalo’s number.

---

Two minutes later, Tsuna is wondering how far he can be from a video screen without appearing offensive, because Xanxus is glaring like he wants to reach through the computer and strangle Tsuna for the crime of bothering him.

Which, to be fair is Xanxus’s general mode of being, but Tsuna hasn’t survived this long by getting complacent. Given his life, it’s not impossible Xanxus has figured out how to do it.

At least the Varia commander is taking his question seriously – the glare had almost vanished when Yamamoto had explained just where they were.

“Whatever you do, don’t steal one” Xanxus warns when Yamamoto finishes up, and Tsuna finds himself leaning forward.

“You stole one?” he says. “I thought the requirement was legal purchase.”

“I was getting desperate!” Xanxus snarls, almost defensively. “Fell-Trash is impossible to reason with. Not that it did me any good. Cost me three months, my body weight in pride and a Lightning Guardian.”

At that Tsuna pauses, and glances to the corner of the screen where he can see Xanxus’s guardians, Levi included, not-so-subtly listening in. Xanxus rolls his eyes.

“Parasol-Trash is number 2” he tells him. “Huge improvement over Belias, I assure you. Idiot walked out with some old folio under his jacket, figuring we could negotiate after it was in our hands. To this day, I have no clue what happened to him, but that folio was on display in the window next morning and Fell’s creepy ass boyfriend was wearing Belias’s shades when we walked in.”

“Boyfriend?” Yamamoto asks, and Xanxus chuckles.

“Oh trust me Trash, you’ll know him when you see him.”

In the background Lussuria is fanning himself with a hand, while Squalo is glowering and inching closer to the screen. Tsuna ignores both of them.

“You didn’t try to find out what happened?” he questions, and Xanxus glares.

“Of course I fucking did!” he snaps. “Even had the lightning member’s we brought along tried to put on the squeeze, but both of them are mental steel traps. If anything, threats just amuse them. Two of Belias’s closest tried physical violence – the boyfriend has this classic car, beautiful piece of machinery; I’ll give him that – smashed out every window and made it clear we were coming back to finish the job. Car like that can’t be easy or cheap to fix.”

“It didn’t work?” Gokudera asks, and Xanxus shakes his head.

The trash left the hotel to get drinks, next thing I know the shark trash is getting a call from the hospital about them.”

The Varia boss jerks his head back, and Squalo freezes for a second, before slinking up to his boss, not even pretending to be subtle in his approach anymore.

“Were they still alive?” Tsuna asks, not sure if he wants to know. Xanxus merely glares at Squalo, who reacts as though it pains him to answer.

“Voi, they lived,” he says. “Looked like they’d been run over by that stupid car a couple hundred times, but they lived. Not that it mattered to us, both of them up and joined a monastery in New Zealand the second they were released!”

Yamamoto frowns. “New Zealand? When you abandon your old life to join a monastery, don’t you usually got to somewhere like Tibet or something?”

“Voi, according to them, they picked New Zealand because there aren’t any snakes there,” Squalo snarled. “Don’t ask me why, never had a problem with them before.”

“Yeah, and that car come morning?” Xanxus adds. “Perfect. Condition. After that, I cut my losses while I still had something to lose.”

“It was their own fault for making compensation jokes about the darling’s car!” Lussuria defends from the back, and Xanxus throws a wine glass in his direction.

The Varia side of the call inevitably descends into a brawl, and little advice is coming. All Tsuna’s managed to gather is, stay legal, screaming is pointless, and don’t threaten his associates or their possessions.

Tsuna silently vows that Gokudera must never enter that building unaccompanied.

Also, before the screen cut off completely, Lussuria popped onto the screen with one final titbit.

“Oh, one more thing. Don’t flirt with the boyfriend,” he says with Bel half in a headlock and the screen on it’s side. “Crowley-darling seems to think it’s funny, but it ticks Mr. Fell off no end. Not sure how he did it, but I got food poisoning whenever I ate out the rest of the time we were there. Ciao!”

The screen immediately goes black, and as a group, Tsuna, Gokudera and Ryohei all glance in Yamamoto’s direction. The teen immediately starts pouting.

“Why are you all looking at me?” he whines.

“Because out of everyone in this room who would think it would be funny, you’re the only one who’d actually try his luck, Baseball Idiot,” Gokudera snaps, and Yamamoto’s lip quirks, point taken. After so much time hanging around Squalo and Reborn, Yamamoto’s baseline for appropriate behaviour and etiquette will never recover – not that there was ever much to save, if Tsuna’s being entirely honest.

In the end, after looking at a spreadsheet of the opening hours Gokudera has on hand, they decide to hold off this evening, and try again in the 40 minute window that there should be just before lunch.

Who knows, maybe Mr. Fell will be more agreeable after he’s eaten?

---

One more part, and think it’ll be ready to migrate to AO3...

#Fanfiction #Fanfic #Katekyo Hitman Reborn Fanfiction #KHR Fanfic #Good Omens #Katekyo hitman reborn #Good Omens fanfiction #crossover #A Kingdom For a Book #KHR

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vamonumentlandscape · 3 years

Text

Lexington: VMI, W&L, and more

After traveling from our college campus on a winding road for about an hour through the Blue Ridge Mountains, we reached the historic town of Lexington, Virginia. Home to two notable institutions of higher learning that continue to contemplate their ties to famous Confederate Generals, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, we knew that a stop in this tiny place was an essential stop during our travels. With the varying opinions in the public of what to do with this history, Lexington is ripe with ongoing discussions, and we sought to make a stop at each current site of controversy or recent action.

We were lucky enough to get a decent parking spot that was close to the modest home of General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and Mary Anna Jackson, his second wife. Tickets to see the site were at an affordable price in the gift shop, and we quickly meandered through the small exhibition just beyond the cashier. We learned various facts about Jackson’s life, his legacy, and also that the building housed a hospital from 1907 to 1954 before turning into a museum. Artifacts and displays did not romanticize the life of Jackson, but we were not starstruck by any means. However, when we began the self-guided tour of the home, the first stop was the kitchen and slave quarters in the basement. Right away, we were provided grounds for comparison to the lived experiences of slaves and those of the Jacksons upstairs. Though we were following along okay with tour videos provided on the museum website, we met a historical interpreter named Brian who had been working at the museum for decades. We found out through Brian that the staff had been sharing the enslaved narratives since the house became a museum. Though the Jackson family did not own as many slaves as other rich families in the Antebellum South, we felt some sense of relief that the presence of the enslaved was a permanent element of any visit to the home. We passed through the upstairs dining room, the bedroom, a study, and a sitting room, while also learning about the short-lived marriage between Stonewall and his first wife, Elinor Jackson. The marriage only lasted such a short time because she died in childbirth. Two years before the end of the Civil War in July of 1863, Stonewall was mortally wounded accidentally by one of his men. He never returned to his home in Lexington after leading a brigade out of the nearby Virginia Military Institute, where he had taught for a brief time. By 1865, the Union won the war, and Mrs. Jackson had to free the family’s enslaved workers. David informed us that Mrs. Jackson was dumbfounded in finding out that an enslaved woman was dissatisfied with her family being in bondage. Mary Anna said something along the lines of “We had been through everything together.” Though Stonewall did not speak vehemently in favor of the peculiar institution of enslavement of human beings, he did believe in his Christian faith not giving him any moral right to question its existence. This was probably the most important detail that we learned from David during our visit, and we believe it is grounds for serious discussions of revisions in how Stonewall Jackson is remembered throughout the South, especially in Virginia. While he is a hero to some, he is reviled by others.

On our way to Oak Grove Cemetery, formerly Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery, we saw a few historic churches, a veterans memorial, and historic signs by the Righteous and Rascals of Rockbridge. The best part of our walk however, was my (Tomi’s) trip into the Rockbridge Republicans headquarters. I walked into the headquarters to see a small area, no bigger than 16x12 feet. Two women were in the small room, one at a desk and the other right across from her. It was somewhat dark, filled with signs for Glenn Youngkin, old Trump signs, and other Republican names known to those in Virginia. The sign that caught my eye first was “Retain the Name” in reference to Washington and Lee’s possible name change. I walked in and asked the two women what the organization did in Lexington and that I was a student doing research from Randolph College. The response I got was much more elaborate than I could have asked for. The woman at the desk began to speak, but was cut off by the other. She told me they were trying to defend history. “They were like midnight riders when they came by and took down all the Confederate flags on the bridge”, “They (50 Ways Rockbridge) want to erase all of our history”, “There was no vote to change the name of the cemetery! (Oak Grove) The city just did it!” “The Generals Redoubt is an organization we align with about keeping Washington and Lee’s name the same.” All the things she was saying came from the simple question that I posed. All I could do was smile and nod with the bombardment of information. Her passion for the preservation of the Confederate flags on city bridges, supporting Generals Redoubt, and wishing the cemetery still kept it’s old name are all valid beliefs she is entitled to have. However, the misinformation she believed and was spreading is not. When she said that the city had removed the flags and Stonewall’s name from the cemetery without a vote, I knew that this was not true. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Lexington’s city council voted and made the decision in 2011 to remove the Confederate flags from city poles and in 2020 about the name change for Oak Grove. Nothing good can ever come from the spread of misinformation. I spoke with the other woman, who agreed with the beliefs of her colleague, but did not express them in the same way. She mainly expressed that she wanted to keep the history in Lexington alive. She informed me that she was born in the Stonewall Jackson Hospital in its last year, so she didn’t want to see such an important place to go away. Thankfully, I could enlighten her from our previous visit to the home, they preserved that history and Stonewall Jackson’s as well. In this conversation, I learned from these women how easy it is to be uninformed by choice. Nothing is wrong with being a Republican. Nothing is wrong with having these views. We are all entitled to our opinions as this is America. There is something very wrong with spreading and believing information that is incorrect.

In the last paragraph, 50 Ways Rockbridge was mentioned. This is an organization with “a group of concerned citizens from Rockbridge County, Virginia, working together to research, educate, and act on major issues that affect all of the 50 United States, especially Virginia and our local area. Our guiding political principles are inclusion and fairness.” This organization has worked to help the community with resources like PPE during COVID-19. They have a political agenda and have worked hard to create a more inclusive environment in Lexington. They are on the complete opposite side of the spectrum of the Rockbridge Republicans. It was very interesting to see one group condemning the other. We hope to chat with some of the board members of 50 Ways to see their dynamic in this small town.

Our visit to Oak Grove Cemetery, formerly known as Stonewall Jackson Cemetery, required us to make a short walk in the sweltering Summer heat of Central Virginia. When we reached the cemetery, we were quickly able to find the gravesite of the man whose home we had just visited. There were some strong storms the night before, so a few workers were clearing some downed trees around the tall memorial dedicated to Jackson. Though it was very loud and hard to take in the memorial as intended, we did not find much wrong with the statue or the pedestal. Sure, it was extravagant and grand in size compared to the other gravesites, but there was no troubling Lost Cause language that had bothered us in places like Monument Avenue in Richmond. Perhaps this is because the infamous United Daughters of the Confederacy or Sons of the Confederacy did not have much to do with its placement. Whatever the case may be, we do not feel that this statue has to come down. If a tourist wants to visit Jackson’s grave and leave a lemon (a tradition because he ate one before every battle), they are free to do so. If they do not want to seek it out, they do not have to. A memorial of this size at Jackson’s grave is less problematic than one on a busy municipal street. The renaming of the cemetery by the City government seems to be the most appropriate action and the furthest they should go.

Before stopping at the campus of Washington and Lee University, we got a quick bite at a unique Burger and Doughnut restaurant called Pure Eats. Though this is not a food blog, we thought it would be appropriate to highlight one of our favorite lunches of the Summer. It’s a small dive joint that every college town needs, but their burgers were especially fantastic. If there is one thing that Lexingtonians can agree on in their complicated environment, it is the food. After hydrating and freeing our faces from any embarrassing dribbles of ketchup and mayo, we headed up the hill to see VMI’s campus, their museum, and W&L to see the Lee Chapel, which is soon to be renamed.

After lunch we went to the fortress that is Virginia Military Institute. We drove around the circular campus multiple times to find a good parking spot to start off our visit. Finally reaching the museum after a long hike up stairs, we entered the glass doors to find an interesting smell. Sadly, as we found out from the museum clerk, there had been intense rainstorms that had flooded the lower part of the museum. We were only able to look around the first level, which was the history of VMI. Before looking around the museum, we spoke more with the clerk. We were just chatting about the museum when she got very emotional about how Jackson was being treated on campus. “He was a good man. He actually educated his slaves when it wasn’t allowed. I don’t understand why they are treating him this way. Hopefully something good will end up coming from it.” Her sympathies seemed oddly personal, we all wondered if this is a commonality among staff at VMI. We walked through the museum which went through the history of VMI from the beginnings to the present. The school began in 1839 to train young men for the Virginia Militia. As the oldest state-supported military college, it has a lot to be proud of and shows off the institution's many achievements. The museum did not shy away from talking about the more difficult history, but they did not tackle it in its entirety. The two main examples of the museum lacking the full story is about African American cadet, Adam Randolph and the issue of allowing women to attend. In talking about admitting African Americans to the college and Adam Randolph, the plaque stated he “left VMI after his third year to pursue other opportunities.” While this is true, the reason for him leaving was left out. The Richmond Times-Dispatch quoted Randolph for his reasoning to transfer to Hampton University: “I just kind of had it, VMI is a great school- but it’s not for everybody.” The article explained the institution’s ties to the Confederacy with statues and traditions like playing “Dixie” at sporting events “troubled” Randolph’s mind. With women attending the institution, the museum blatantly left out the firm opposition VMI felt to women becoming cadets. As detailed in Women in the Barracks: The VMI Case and Equal Rights, VMI was firmly against women attending the school and fought hard in court to avoid the integration of women on campus. The museum completely left this out. Going through the museum was an absolute must to understand the complex and interesting history of VMI.

On VMI’s campus we explored around to see where General Jackson’s statue once stood, but what caught our eyes most was the building right behind the former statue. “STONEWALL JACKSON” adorned the notorious barracks building named after the former physics professor at the school. As we were told in the Jackson House by a wonderful guide named David, Jackson wasn’t the beloved professor he has come to be known. He was a firm lecturer who struggled with expanding on the topic more than what the texts from books he read. Former students of Jackson felt as if he was very hard and unwilling to let go of his West Point ties to how he was taught. There is nothing wrong with the school honoring former teachers as they do throughout the campus with the naming of buildings. However, we feel as if Jackson has become a mythologized hero. His legacy at VMI is not one that is more important than another professor, but the institute has made it that way. As we see the building named for him, none of us are shocked or moved as this is understandable and a tradition for the college to do for former professors. But, what shocked us most was the blatant erasure of his name below Jackson’s own quote. “You may be whatever you resolve to be- Stonewall Jackson” is what the building used to read. Now, there is only the quote. There is a difference between reinterpretation and erasure of history. Taking down the statue of Jackson that literally put him on a pedestal makes sense. But, removing his name from his own quote is wrong. As with anything, we must give credit where credit is due. Keep his name with his own words or remove the entire quote. There should be no in between.

Though we were not able to get inside the Lee Chapel, we at least wanted to see the building that had been in the news of late. From what we gathered, the chapel will be split into two components - one being space for campus services at the university and the other being the tombs of Robert E. Lee and Mary Custis Lee. The Recumbent Statue by Edward Valentine depicts General Lee asleep on the battlefield. While the building is being returned to its original name of University Chapel, the tomb will remain intact. In doing so, W&L will continue to allow folks in to visit Lee’s tomb, but will not force all students to feel imposed by his presence while worshipping. Just outside in the quad, the statue of Cyrus McCormick and the obelisk for John Robinson have signage that offers honest interpretation for two men with troubling histories. Though McCormick is credited with inventing the mechanical reaper, his family enslaved many. In 1826, “Jockey” John Robinson sold his land to Washington College, now Washington and Lee University. 73 enslaved African-American women, men, and children were enslaved for ten years as a part of this purchase. By placing signs around these statues for historical context, the institution is acknowledging its past for a more just future. While the Board of Trustees decided that Lee will remain in the school’s name just a few weeks ago, going against the wishes of most of its faculty, the school is confronting its past adequately to appear open to increasing diversity and welcomeness for all.

#lexington #w&l #VMI #History #confederate #monuments #Lee #stonewall #pure eats

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